Already in the beginning of the 1970's when requirements from the Swedish nuclear industry were set according to ASME III-NCA 3800, Avesta Welding became the main supplier of covered electrodes for the welding of stainless steels in these plants. The fact that we had a Quality Assurance manual - written in 1974 - helped the nuclear industry when making that decision. It also served as a good starting point in the 1980´s when adopting the Japan-inspired way of working with Quality Assurance.
In 1990 the Avesta group implemented TQM - "Total Quality Management". The aim with this work was that all parts of the group should have a third party approved quality system - according to ISO 9000 - 1993 at the latest. This system should serve as a tool for constant improvements of the quality status by following key numbers.
We started this work in 1990, first by adopting a strategy for how to implement the system. Personnel at all levels were trained, quality groups discussed the improvement of internal procedures. Thanks to the engagement of the personnel the system was approved by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in the of autumn 1991.
The positive effects of the system are obvious and we try to keep the system "alive" by making improvements using techniques such as FMEA "Failure Mode and Effect Analysis" which is used for systematic localisation of potential sources of discrepancies. Our suppliers are constantly evaluated to make sure they maintain a high and uniform quality. Should improvements be necessary they are often started in co-operation with ourselves.
Of course our customers benefit from the QA-system as well. An already high product quality and delivery performence has been further improved.
The approval according to the ISO 9002 was a natural step for us and it confirms that the job that has been going on since 1974 is going in the right direction. In 2003 the approval was upgraded to the new standard ISO 9001, and the work with improvements is to be continued ….