Cequent Transportation Accessories, a division of TriMas Corp., located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, designs and manufactures a broad range of accessories for light trucks, SUVs, recreational vehicles, passenger cars, and trailers. The company has a long history of using enterprise quality management to drive market success.

Three years ago, Chinese supplier error levels were unacceptable and in direct conflict with the requirements expected of Cequent’s domestic suppliers. In an effort to mitigate this risk and improve quality, Cequent used the global quality infrastructure from IQS, of Cleveland, Ohio, to implement a successful domestic quality and compliance program.

An importer’s responsibility extends to such issues as poor tooling and equipment, and basic communication challenges that can contribute to poor quality. Because the Chinese manufacturing sector does not have a history of quality management and quality processes, simply dictating an end-state is not the answer. To complete the quality program, the importing organization needs to provide monitoring and in-process checks to ensure that all aspects of the production process meet quality standards. Importing organizations that are serious about quality should also provide a monitoring and compliance mechanism that checks quality throughout the process.

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