Eckerle Receives Quality Award from Prettl

The Prettl Group is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, and for this occasion, a special jubilee event took place on September 21-22. One of the event’s highlights was the awards ceremony, where trophies were presented to deserving recipients from Prettl’s 40 companies in the following categories: GoZero, People & Culture, Innovation & Technology, Sales & Marketing, and Quality. Andreas Göhring, the CEO of our company, took over the Quality award for Eckerle Automotive Bóly Kft.

But why was the plant of Eckerle in Bóly being honoured with this recognition among more than 40 companies in the group?

The answer is awe-inspiring: from December 2021 to August 2023, the quality costs have been permanently reduced from over 4% to an astonishing 1.5%, achieving this remarkable result in such a short timeframe. (It’s worth noting that in 2021, there were months when the quality costs exceeded 10%.)

Prettl’s leadership wholeheartedly supports such efforts and encourages them to continue in the future.

It is also worth taking a closer look at the measures that brought about positive changes in quality indicators:

• The introduction of multi-level auditing (LPA) in the production process involved the participation of individuals at various levels, including process controllers, shift supervisors, engineers, and management. They have assessed compliance using predefined checklists and have implemented necessary actions.
• Colleagues in Bóly have segmented the production, assigning specialized groups to oversee different areas.
• The team also reorganized the quality department, streamlining functions into specific roles. That allowed subject matter experts to handle less frequent tasks, such as pattern analysis, Supplier Quality Assurance, and FMEA moderation. As a result, product-responsible engineers could work more efficiently and dedicate more time to production.
• They’ve developed a more transparent system for overseeing quality costs, drawing from established models in Hungary. With access to precise data, they consistently carried out improvement activities.

The team of the plant in Bóly has every reason to be proud of their achievements, as they have put in every effort to improve their performance and are committed to ensuring that this trend continues in the future, aiming for the best results.

We are proud of the Bóly team and will continue to encourage the site to achieve similar impressive results in the future!