IATF:16949 at Shin-Etsu Silicones Europe

Shin-Etsu Silicones Europe – active in the Netherlands since 1949 – is part of the Japanese Shin-Etsu Chemical, a global market leader in PVC. Nicole, Marijn, Rens: several consultants and junior consultants from Symbol have worked for this innovative company in Almere over the past years. “The collaboration with Symbol is therefore very good. Symbol possesses extensive in-house knowledge, which we gratefully utilise in both small and large projects,” says QA Manager Frank van der Wel. Recently, it was junior consultant Ricardo Meulstee’s turn to commence work for the global player.

IATF:16949 Implementation
Frank: “In our production facility in Almere, we manufacture sealing materials for the automotive industry. Some of our clients are Tier 1 suppliers: companies that supply directly to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Toyota and Volkswagen. Many of these OEMs require their suppliers to be IATF:16949-certified. This creates a chain reaction: ideally, we, as a Tier 2 supplier, would also be certified. Consequently, one of our clients asked us if we would be willing to work in accordance with IATF. Although Shin-Etsu does not (yet) intend to be globally certified, we did not want to say ‘no’ to this request, in order to maintain an optimal client relationship. But how do you approach an IATF:16949 implementation if you do not possess the necessary expertise in-house? That is why we enlisted the help of Symbol.”