The vehicle industry and its subcontractors is one of Sweden’s largest and most important industrial branches. About 8% (210 bkr), of Sweden’s GDP is generated within different branches of the vehicle industry and 15% of Sweden’s total export consists of cars, trucks and busses. The vehicle industry in Sweden has over 140 000 employees.
The vehicle industry is facing many new challenges. Consumers demand a constant development of products, increasing performance and a higher level of quality. A rise in environmental awareness and the media coverage of global warming is driving the development of alternative propellants to new levels. All of this should at the same time be accomplished at a lower cost.
Despite earlier mentioned challenges, globalization puts an increasing demand on the Swedish vehicle industry to maintain the manufacturing process within Sweden. In the study “Automotive industry investment and location drivers – Focus on Sweden” a number of methods to help keep production within Sweden are mentioned. One main aspect mentioned looks at the importance of quality, efficiency and supply reliability in order to become “best in class”. (The study can be downloaded from PricewaterhouseCoopers)
In order to live up to these high quality goals, manufacturers and suppliers in the vehicle industry have realized the necessity of utilizing quality insurance, by using systems that produce good traceability in collected data. The analyses that are made must give a credible view of the manufacturing process in order for businesses to deliver on time and within budget, while maintaining a high level of quality.