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PrimoTECS is a quality driven company. This is not only documented by passing the renewal of the IATF-Certification in March 2021, by a quality policy which is clearly communicated inside PrimoTECS to all employees as well as by excellent quality KPIs. It is also documented by continuously rising the state of the art in quality technology which is applied in PrimoTECS production.

Cold forged shafts which are used in transmission, powertrain and hybrid or electric drive applications can exhibit different types of defects on the surface of the shaft. These can be closed or open cracks, they can be long and continuous or short, interrupted or located on edges, or even still exist on machined surfaces. Common to all these cracks is that they are non- systematic quality defects, appearing at a rate of a few per ten thousand or in even lesser incidents. The reason for these cracks is the deformation of the material in a tensile stress regimen. However, the cracks only form if one of the following three conditions exists: 1) A surface fold introduced by hot rolling of the bar, but so small that it could not be detected by eddy current testing in the steel mill 2) a segregation in the steel which leads to some brittle material structure even after proper heat treatment for cold forging or 3) a bigger inclusion near the surface which reduces the ductility of the steel. Condition 2) and 3) can not be detected by economical non-destructive testing.

Consequently, 100% visual check by skilled labour is undertaken on these types of cold forgings. Neither skills nor optimum working conditions, however, can typically completely prevent that some defective parts slip through the quality check. In order to increase the quality level, PrimoTECS has decided to apply automatic surface checks. The Avigliana plant has undertaken a project in which different methods of surface testing have been analysed. The combination of Laser-Profilometer and camera has proven to be able to detect all relevant surface defects (see Fig. 1), so this technology has been chosen for the quality check of these parts starting from May 2021.

With this investment, PrimoTECS demonstrates its willingness to invest into the highest quality technology in order to become the market leader for forged components in Europe.

Fig.1: Analysis of detection performance for different types of surface defects

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Quality First

The Quality has a role of primary importance in all management and production activities of PrimoTECS. PrimoTECS strives to supply products and services that meet requirements and expectations of customers and the law mandatory requirements, in order to increase the satisfaction of our customers, shareholders and employees. These targets are pursued through the development and improvement of efficient production processes of forged steel components for the automotive industry.

Therefore, PrimoTECS undertakes in Villar Perosa and Avigliana plants to:

• Establish, implement and maintain a Quality Policy appropriate to the purpose and context of the Organization, by means of the analysis of risks and opportunities
• Promote continuous improvement for supporting strategic quality guidelines
• Develop high quality-value products and processes by promoting the use of the process approach associated with the PDCA method and risk-based thinking
• Produce products that meet own and customer’s quality requirements
• Take all necessary actions in order to prevent any product defect
• Implement the “zero defect” production policy
• Monitor and reduce the cost of poor quality
• Manage the non-conformities
• Develop training and involvement of people to promote awareness of their own contribution to the effectiveness of the Quality Management System
• Identify and assign the resources necessary for implementing the Quality Management System
• Measure the Company performances regularly and improve them in accordance to the annual improvement plan
• Ensure that the Quality Management System of its suppliers is certified IATF 16949:2016 or ISO 9001:2015, monitor the supplier performances periodically, and define development and improvement plans of the supply chain for assuring that supplied processes, products and services are in line with the customer requirements

In order to carry out these listed activities, the Quality Management System has been defined, developed, and it is continuously monitored in compliance with IATF 16949: 2016 and ISO 9001:2015.

The PrimoTECS General Management appoints the Quality Director as its representative and entrusts her with the responsibility and authority both to establish, apply and manage the Quality System, in compliance with the international standards, and to report the Quality System performances to the Management in order to allow their control and improvement.

Dear Business Partner,

We would like to provide you with a brief update on Covid-19 recent developments and related effects on our company’s business activities.
As newspapers are reporting, the situation is continuing being critical and the Italian government has prolonged its preventive measures until the 3rd of May 2020.

Following our letter dated 3rd of April 2020, by which we notified you about the impossibility to continue with the scheduled manufacturing activities and the inevitable shut-down of our production facilities due to force majeure, we inform that circumstances have unfortunately not changed. We do not have the permission to reopen our production facilities in Avigliana and Villar Perosa for the upcoming three weeks. As a consequence, we will not be in the position to guarantee delivery times. Of course, we are striving to make our restart in the most efficient way, that we are planning for the 4th of May 2020.

To prepare adequately our whole value-chain for this efficient restart, we do need your visibility. We would like to ask you to update within the next working-days your call-off-orders for the upcoming weeks until end of May.

Please be reassured that it is our priority to keep a transparent and profitable communication with all our valuable partners. We will therefore continue to keep you updated about any further development and actions that will be taken with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our customers are of the highest importance to us. Let us prepare for an efficient restart and let us use this difficult period to strengthen our business-partnership.
If you do have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly, we are at your disposal.

Thank you, in advance, for your understanding, trust and partnership.
With best regards,

Your PrimoTEAM
primotecs.com