Over the past year, Wanxiang Qianchao has maintained stable cooperation with Ford, and all business operations have been progressing smoothly. Meanwhile, the company has added 10 new customers and 53 designated projects in global markets. With robust order volumes and busy workshop production, the company’s development and profitability have been steadily improving. In the first three quarters of this year, total profits increased by 20.28% year-on-year, and net profits rose by 18.25% year-on-year.
Behind market expansion and improved efficiency lie quality assurance and brand credibility—and a milestone in this regard is the successful attainment of Ford’s Q1 certification. (Click to view) Q1 is Ford Motor Company’s highest honor in the field of quality, serving as a passport to entry into Ford’s global supplier network. Receiving this certification signifies that Wanxiang has successfully passed rigorous testing and has become a benchmark for outstanding quality within the global industry. This achievement has significantly enhanced Wanxiang’s global competitiveness and influence, not only deepening its cooperative relationship with Ford but also effectively facilitating market expansion among other key strategic customers.

Dare to reach for greater heights and ask time for the answers. After years of relentless efforts, Wanxiang Qianchao has successfully obtained Ford’s Q1 certification. This is a true testament to the Wanxiang people’s unwavering spirit of tackling challenges head-on and their persistent, long-term commitment to innovation.

From heart to action

Promise to be a model project.

As a leading enterprise in automotive components, Wanxiang Qianchao’s connection with Ford dates back nearly 20 years. In September 2005, the company began mass-supplying Ford’s North American plants with cross-shafts and straight-shafts; to date, it has cumulatively delivered over one million units. Throughout the circulation of these million parts, the two companies have worked hand in hand, using “quality” as the key to forging their transoceanic partnership.

Q1 (Quality is No.1—Quality First) is a quality and manufacturing standard unique to Ford Motor Company, renowned throughout the industry for its stringent requirements. Supplier manufacturing sites must simultaneously meet requirements in five key areas: First, they must have a second-party, third-party, and MMOG Class A quality management system; second, their PPM (Parts Per Million) over the past six months must be more than 50% lower than that of Ford’s existing Q1 suppliers; third, they must comply with Ford’s on-site review requirements conducted every six months; fourth, they must receive endorsement from three departments simultaneously: Material Planning & Logistics, Customer Service, and Supplier Technical Support; and fifth, they must satisfy the Q1 performance matrix and continuously improve according to the annual on-site review criteria.

Wanxiang’s quality culture also has a long and storied history. In 1980, founder Lu Guanqiu sent 30,000 sets of products—each with minor defects—worth 430,000 yuan to a scrap yard, leaving all employees without bonuses for half a year. This deeply painful yet profoundly instructive experience ingrained the importance of quality in the hearts of every employee. Over the decades that followed, Wanxiang’s workforce firmly embraced a quality ethos characterized by strictness, meticulous attention to detail, and relentless pursuit of excellence, making “Wanxiang” a well-established guarantee of quality within the industry. However, there still remains a gap between Chinese companies and their U.S. counterparts in terms of specific approaches to quality management. The Q1 set of rules, while effective in the U.S., still feels somewhat ill-suited to the realities of Chinese enterprises. Although the company has collaborated with Ford for many years, obtaining Q1 certification remains a long and arduous journey.

In the winter of 2021, Wanxiang Qianchao held a work conference, taking a crucial step forward. At that time, the company was actively pushing ahead with Q1 certification and had invited Ford engineers to conduct an assessment. On the large screen in the conference room, bolded black text read: “The production site needs a comprehensive quality review and improvement, especially in areas such as product traceability, processes, document compliance, logistics control, and 5S…” The assessment recommendations were listed one by one.

This project involves numerous departments and personnel, yet the progress has been slow. In response, Ni Pin issued clear instructions: “Achieving Q1 is both a set target and an integral part of our KPI assessment. We must coordinate effectively across all relevant departments and make every effort to accelerate progress.” All employees of the company are fully committed to relentlessly pursuing quality and are determined to turn the Q1 certification into a truly exemplary project.

Shift your mindset

Tackle the first “hard nut.”

Wanxiang Qianchao quickly made arrangements, drawing personnel from various departments to form a dedicated task force. Responsibilities were assigned to specific individuals, timelines were clearly defined, and all efforts were concentrated on tackling the first major challenge—the MMOG review work.

MMOG is a Material Management Operations Guide—a comprehensive supply assurance system centered on logistics and the supply chain. The guide comprises a total of 187 provisions covering all aspects of production, such as logistics planning and execution, supplier management, warehousing and inventory control, transportation and distribution, and overall supply chain coordination. By systematically assessing these factors, companies can identify potential areas for improvement, thereby optimizing their logistics processes and enhancing efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Obtaining Q1 certification through MMOG represents a crucial step—and also the first “tough challenge” that the dedicated task force has encountered.

“Starting from scratch, overturning conventional wisdom, and transforming mindsets—this was quite a challenge,” recalled the engineer in charge of MMOG system planning. The “way” of quality at Wanxiang has been deeply rooted for many years. Yet, according to traditional thinking, logistics seemed to be confined solely to the few links directly visible on its surface; other departments, such as finance and human resources, appeared to have little or nothing to do with logistics. The establishment of MMOG made the dedicated team realize that everyone in the company is somehow connected to quality management. To tackle the “techniques” involved, the entire company held countless large and small meetings, invited experts from Chongqing, Nanjing, and other cities for training sessions, shared documents, and encouraged self-study—all of which helped spread and embed new ideas and approaches throughout the company.

Meanwhile, the Production Logistics Center organized various departments to prepare and revise logistics-related documents. After numerous iterations and updates across multiple versions, we successfully completed a series of tasks, including the self-assessment of MMOG, the release of the Logistics Manual, the launch of the EDI system, and the implementation of full-process traceability via the MES system. Throughout this period, we faced numerous challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic; all work related to Wanxiang USA and other overseas factories had to be conducted online. During repeated rounds of review and corrective actions, the dedicated task force meticulously identified and addressed each issue one by one. Finally, in 2022, we completed the desktop review and submitted the translated documents, and in May 2023, we successfully concluded the on-site review of MMOG.

Strive for perfection.

Quality management makes a big difference in production.

The implementation of the MMOG system has been a challenging and rigorous process. As the system was rolled out, the dedicated task force gradually mastered the intricacies of Q1 certification—meticulousness, rigor, and comprehensiveness. It required not only fostering a systematic awareness of quality management and continuously driving improvements but also ensuring that every single detail was executed to the highest standards with unwavering rigor. Under this highly efficient working ethos, the implementation of the MSA system has become smoother than before. The MSA represents the final and most critical step in obtaining Q1 certification.

MSA stands for Manufacturing Site Audit and is a critically important component of the Q1 system. At the end of 2022, Ford conducted a preliminary audit of the company’s MSA, identifying numerous issues—from material warehouse management to production takt time and processes, from revisions to work instructions to the development of inspection tools. Wanxiang Qianchao devised a comprehensive improvement plan, focusing on six key areas: awareness and training, document updates and standardization, on-site 5S implementation, standard compliance, production and manufacturing, and warehouse management. Weekly progress checks were carried out to ensure thorough rectification and optimization. Subsequently, after several rounds of preliminary audits, corrective actions, and acceptance tests, the company fully met all requirements in July 2023 and successfully passed Ford’s on-site audit.

The implementation of MSA has dramatically transformed the appearance of frontline workshops. Entering the warehouse, you’ll see rolling displays on steel material receipt boards showing batch information, inventory levels, safety stock standards, and the exact locations of materials—covering every single storage location in the steel warehouse. The status of storage locations and steel inspections is immediately clear at a glance. On the mobile stands, electronic bulletin boards for the hard-line production line can be adjusted to any position at any time, displaying real-time quality information from the production line. Previously used multiple types of product transfer cards have been reorganized and upgraded into barcode-based transfer cards, enabling instant recording of the quantity of products in each container and facilitating easy management and traceability...

Seeing these changes, the colleagues in the Q1 Certification Task Force felt both delighted and deeply fulfilled: “With the implementation of MSA, we’ve witnessed cleaner workshops, higher production efficiency, and a more streamlined management approach—these have been a great help to our work.”

In August 2023, Wanxiang Qianchao received Ford Motor’s Q1 letter of intent; just over a week later, a query in Ford’s SIM system showed that the Q1 status code was “Y.” This means that Wanxiang Qianchao has successfully passed Ford’s Q1 certification, enabling it to establish closer cooperative relationships with Ford Motor Company worldwide and enhance its market competitiveness and brand influence.

Niu Jie, the chief person in charge of Q1 certification, said with great pride: “Wanxiang has the confidence and capability to withstand the scrutiny of even the most discerning international customers. Achieving zero defects with a PPM of just 6—this remarkable quality milestone is the result of the collective efforts of all Wanxiang employees. Obtaining the Q1 certification has given us even greater confidence as we move forward. We’re determined to become globally leading in technology, production, and quality!”

The Q1 certification is yet another strong testament to Wanxiang Qianchao’s commitment to quality assurance, and it further highlights the persevering, excellence-driven spirit embodied by the people of Wanxiang. True achievements come from practical actions, and a future of success is forged through hard work. As always, the people of Wanxiang will remain focused on our core business, tackle tough challenges with innovation, uphold our original aspirations with meticulous craftsmanship, and create premium products that reflect our初心. With even better product quality and brand reputation, we will move forward—toward the new, toward greater heights, and toward greater strength!

Reprinted from: Wanxiang Group Co., Ltd.