Hosta gears up with eight-digit investment, focus on partnerships and Toyota quality

20/06-2017

Summer holiday is right around the corner and, like so many others, we are taking the opportunity to look back on our spring performance. We have spent the past few months preparing the organisation for further growth in order to better be able to meet customer demands.

What is important to the customer?

Many companies, regardless of industry, find that customers have ever greater focus on higher quality, flexibility and efficiency.

As subcontractor, we have to constantly ensure the quality of many new and different products for our customers – while offering shorter delivery times. This requires flexibility, the ability to reorganise and a good portion of understanding of customers’ needs. We wish, namely, to offer a customer-tailored solution where we can contribute with sparring and expertise throughout the process in metal working.

That is why our strategy also describes quality, delivery time and skill development as some of the most important focal points for us in the future. It is our targeted efforts in these areas that will help us live up to customer demands.

Complaints cut in half through partnership with Toyota
Together with Toyota, we have implemented their supplier programme within quality. They are our sparring partner in the process of improvement initiatives, and they have helped us become even better at collecting and using data/knowledge from employees in the different departments.

The criterion for success for this work is a fifty percent cut in internal deviations and external complaints over a year. We have built a data collection system based on information from the departments and employees with focus on the departures found internally in the factory between the departments that were not sent to the customer. We then work on the departures so they are resolved before they become complaints.

Our entire quality system and the work with departures is thus undergoing a process to create added value for both the customer and Hosta. In 2016, we reached the goal of cutting complaints in half in a year. Our end-goal is zero complaints. We are not afraid to set the bar high!

 

Eight-digit investment creates the basis for further partnership and collaboration

The last year, we have invested an eight digit sum, to ensure that we have the capacity and the know-how to grow together with our customers. We have invested in the newest machinery on the market and worked with focus on skill development of our staff, and our newly purchased premises open up new opportunities for framework agreements and assembly work. This way, we can be a dependable partner even more for our customers throughout the value chain.

We are looking forward to working with the different development areas and we are convinced that our customers and suppliers will benefit greatly by the work we are doing and the new opportunities we can offer.

 

New in the organisation

New initiatives can also be seen internally in our organisation, where chief accountant Trine K. Christensen has become finance manager, with overall responsibility for Hosta’s finances. In addition, we have hired Jacob Overby as Area Sales Manager as per 1 June, with responsibility for growing sales to both new and existing customers. We are happy to have Jacob on board, and together with the rest of the sales organisation, he will ensure continued good cooperation with our current customers, but will also cultivate exciting new projects.

With these words, we would like to wish you all a wonderful summer. We will be closed for the holidays weeks 29, 30 and 31 (17/7 – 6/8), but we will be back on 7 August to take your queries. Relevant contact persons and direct contact information is available on the website here.