A Ferrari is, to many, more than just a car: it is a work of art. At the Ferrari plant in Italy, ISO certification has improved its already high standards of quality and innovation.
The Ferrari plant at Maranello, Modena, is unlike any other carmaking factory in the world. The wooded surroundings impact a sense of quiet, and the natural light, the fresh air, the white-collared workers, all contribute to a unique work environment.
Says Franco Magagni, Industrial Director of Ferrari for the past three years, No other carmaker has a workplace to match this in quiet, cleanliness and comfort. He is a mechanical engineer from Bologna and has worked his way through the Fiat system. Fiat is the major owner of Ferrari. Magagnis main responsibilities are manufacturing, quality, purchasing new technology and components development.
He continues, A Ferrari is a work of art. We have never spent a cent on advertising. The Ferrari brand speaks for itself. The older the car is, the more it is worth. We can provide spare parts for all Ferraris built in the past 40 years. The company limits its production to around 4,000 hand-made cars annually, and is determined to keep it at that level.
ISO certification
DNV has certified Ferrari according to the ISO 9000 and 14000 standards, recognising the companys environmental concerns and decision to reduce any negative impact from its operations.
The ISO evaluation and certification have improved quality and reduced environmental effects, says Magagni. Ferraris management system implementation reflects the companys philosophy: Provide time and resources and make sure the systems meet our needs. And the result is impressive. Says Magagni, Achieving ISO 14000 was a direct result of working towards the ideal manufacturing environment. After gaining the ISO 9000 certificate I personally wanted the ISO 14000 for our facilities as well.
Work towards certification began in 1994. The company was beginning to recover from a turbulent period and quality was an issue. To encourage innovation and improve quality, Ferrari decided to go for a quality management certificate: rather than simply a sales tool, they realised it would enable the quality processes to develop in the right direction.
Fruits of collaboration
We always go for the best in Ferrari. We believe that DNV is the most serious and reliable certification company in Italy, Magagni explains. DNV has had great influence on our improvement. It has been a masterpiece of collaboration. But it was no joyride. Ferrari faced tough experiences all the way. He describes it as a sound relationship.
Director of Institutional Affairs Leonardo Omodeo-Zorini in DNV Italy returns the compliment. He also describes the relationship as sound and fruitful.
Ferrari has always taken our input and comments very seriously, he says. He believes that their relationship has contributed to increase Ferraris level of quality as well as its environmental performance. He emphasises that the level of anomalies found since the beginning of the certification process has been extremely low.
During the latest renewal activities at the end of September this year, we only identified opportunities for improvement. This is a very positive sign with reference to the degree of efficiency of the processes managed by Ferrari, he says.
In 1996 the ISO 9000 certificate was issued by DNV for Ferrari GT luxury and sports cars, with the scope of Manufacture, sale and after-sale servicing of GT cars. Maserati GT was certified in 2000 with the same scope. The Ferrari plants started their ISO 14000 process around 1999. This certificate was issued in 2001, with the scope of Design and manufacture of GT cars through design and development, alloy casting, machining, panelling, painting and assembly. Manufacture of racing cars through alloy casting, composite materials manufacture and painting, machining and assembly.
Magagni is proud of the companys achievement. We are the only racing car company to have certified manufacture of Formula One cars to ISO 14000. Other car manufacturers may be best in class in some specific environmental aspects, but our goal is to match them.
Streamlining processes
A customer does not buy a Ferrari because the company has a quality or environmental certificate on the wall, Magagni points out. Customers have extremely high expectations of our cars, and we saw this approach to management as a valuable tool that would allow us to adopt procedures leading to both innovation and efficiency. We felt it was a form of guarantee.
Magagni believes that the ISO 9000 process helped lead to consistency as well as quality. Ferraris production processes have improved, with less waste, fewer operations that have no added value, and less pollution. The audit and evaluation proved to be very useful in the drive for continuous improvement.
Implementation and benefits
The certification work was also well received by the employees. Innovation is part of the companys culture, and the workers do what it takes to contribute to the improvement processes. Magagni states that the processes were implemented without question. The employees satisfaction is a key issue to him. He personally meets all of them twice a year, and has introduced his own award system to encourage innovation. This year 200 members of the workforce were awarded weekend stays in cultural cities with their families. The result has proved to be a highly motivated and cooperative staff.
Magagni emphasises that the company has not rushed to implement certification. But in a company where craftsmanship is as important as technical innovation, rushing the process would have meant we were only interested in a certificate on the wall, rather than management systems that would improve our performance.
Retaining Expertise
He estimates that besides cost savings from reductions in energy use, and waste due to the plants energy-efficient design, Ferrari can also attribute savings to significantly reduced personnel turnover. As a result of ISO 14000 implementation, the company has reduced the turnover to an extremely low level.
Concludes Magagni, The consequences are twofold: first it has reduced the cost of recruiting and training new employees; and second it has achieved a notable increase in productivity and quality due to the consistency of the workforce. In short, a healthy and comfortable environment has incalculable value.