2GCS901011A0000-Plant Process Quality

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ABBPower Quality Products

Management System Overview


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ABB Group

ABB is a global leader in power and automation

technologies that enable utility and industrycustomers to improve performance while lowering

environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies

operates in around 100 countries and employs about

107,000 people.

ABB Power Quality Products

ABB Power Quality Products is based in Charleroi,

Belgium.

Thanks to an extensive experience and use of the

latest technologies, ABB develops, designs and

manufactures amongst other products a compre-

hensive range of products and solutions that

improve the power quality of the Low Voltage

Network by eliminating disturbances and improving

power factor.

ABB Power Quality Products is the ABB center of

excellence for this activity. Its business integrates

R&D, manufacturing and marketing at a worldwide

level.

ABB Power Quality products are sold in more than

70 countries with extensive local engineering and

expertise.

ABB Power Quality Products is the worldwide

leader in Low Voltage Power Quality.

Our products/solutions portfolio is organized

around 3 main application fields:

Reactive power compensation

LV capacitor units type CLMD and LVCS.

Power factor controllers type RVC and RVT.

Automatic capacitor banks with and without reactors

type APC.

Flicker control

Thyristor switched capacitor bank type Dynacomp.

Harmonic mitigation

LV Active Filters type PQFK, PQFI, PQFM, PQFS.

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Power Quality Products


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Management System

The Power Quality Products Unit of ABB runs an

integrated management system for quality,

environment, safety and security.

Mastering processes and how they interact with

one another is the prerequisite for effective and

efficient economic activity. We are continuously

improving our performance in managed learning

cycles.

Our documentation principle and every process are

clearly and succinctly described in the Management

Manual.

Our processes are presented in the form of

flowcharts and stored with all internal instructionsin our document management system. This docu-

mentation is available to all employees and is

binding for all of them.

Quality

Our quality management system has been certified

according to ISO 9001 since 1993.

Main attention is focused on our customers. In

order to satisfy the customers, we find out what

their expectations are and support them with our

products in our fulfilling their strategic objectives.

Environment

Our environmental management system has been

certified according to ISO 14001 since 1997.

Careful handling of natural resources is one of our

goals. Minimizing the use of raw material for

producing and reducing the waste are the other

ones. We have implemented procedures to recycle

an important part of our wastes.

Safety and Security

In 2004 we obtained OHSAS 18001 certification for

the safety at work and health protection parts of

our safety and security management.

We bea r responsibi li ty for the sa fe ty of our

workforce at their workplace.

To reduce the risk of accidents, we follow some

indicators like frequency rate or gravity rate.

Laboratories

Our laboratory plays an important role in product

development. It is part of CSA program (Category

Certification Program). This means that we are

certified to perform tests, according to CSA, on our

products.

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Policy and Objectives

ABB Power Quality Products regards customer

satisfaction as its principal objective.

We strive to deliver products with optimum quality

and accept our responsibility towards future

generation by taking account of economic,

ecological and social aspects in equal measure.

Continuous Improvement

In order continuously improve our processes, we

have implemented a systematic approach that is

based on different proven methods in the domain

of the quality. This method, called 4Q, follows the

following steps:

1. Measurement and collection of data

Before collecting the data, the quality manager

consults the database Cost of Power Quality. This

system collects all costs of quality issues. It enables

us to find the real origin of important problems.

2. Data analysis

- Brainstorming in order to answer some

questions (who, what, where, when, how, why,

how many).

- Classification of results following the 5M method

(Manpower, Machine, Measurement, Method,

Milieu) to obtain the Ishikawa Diagram.

- To find the real causes of the problem, we use

the 5 Whys method.

3. Search for solutions and action plan

4. Verification of effectiveness and formalization of

the actions

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Satisfaction of our customers

Our customers expectations and requirements are

of decisive importance for us and play a key role

in the improvement of processes, products and

services.

Global CCRP (Customer Complaint Resolution

Process) is an integrated method for managing both

external and internal complaints. Capturing,

resolving and analysis of complaints will for us

result in satisfied customers and information

indicating where we need to make process

improvement. This program allows our customers

to log their complaints over the Internet themselves

and to be advised of our actions.

We inform our customers about the environmental

and safety aspects of our products in conjunction

with their operation, maintenance and disposal.

Moreover, our employees are empowered to

identify customers needs and to translate them into

high-quality products and services.

Commitments of the Suppliers

We undertake active supplier management with

evaluation and assessment of suppliers. We need

to have raw materials and outsourced parts that

meet our requirements.

To select a new supplier, we evaluate his financial

situation, his environmental and quality system and

his technical resources. We send him one ques-

tionnaire reviewing all these aspects. We can also

perform an audit.

Most of the time, we require a measure certificate

and a declaration of conformity with our deliveries.

Besides that a panel of deliveries is inspected

visually and/or by measurement. If we refuse aproduct, the quality department issues a rejection

note. All these notes are analyzed during the

evaluation process.

Twice a year, we run an evaluation of three types

of suppliers: key suppliers (for raw material critical

for production), suppliers with quality problems

and one supplier by article group.

The quality and the logistic scores give us the final

score by supplier. The results are published in the

management review and sent to the concerned

suppliers. If one supplier has a score lower than

50% in quality and/or in logistic or a final score

lower than 60%, we contact him to take corrective

actions. We can also decide to stop our partnership.

In order to optimize the entire process, we also

involve suppliers at the early stages of product

development and process optimization. Our project

managers work closely with them for this purpose.

Cooperation is fixed in frame agreements.

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Organization and Training

ABB Power Quality Products has a suitable orga-

nization and a dedicated workforce with the

necessary qualifications to fulfil their tasks, thereby

ensuring that requirements regarding processes and

products are met.

Organization

Our internal organization is part of the quality, envi-

ronmental and safety and security organization of

the ABB Group.

Every week the management reviews quality, safety

and environment issues. There is also a weekly

quality meeting for each production line and onespecific meeting between quality and maintenance

managers.

Training

The requirements as to the various functions are

defined in terms of quality, environment and safety.

All new employees receive their training plan with

these different parts.

Supplementing a range of external training oppor-

tunities, ABB offers an extensive in-houseprofessional training program for developing

technical, social and management skills. Each

employee begins to work with an experienced

colleague. The training duration varies according

to the function (2 weeks for the marking, 4 months

for metallization).

During annual meetings with employees, the

requirements for professional training are gauged,

any necessary action and training courses are

planned, and the implementation of training is

checked.

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Process and ProductPerformance

ABB Power Quality Products develops manufac-tures and inspects its products according to defined

processes.

Product management is responsible for the products

from the development stage right through to their

recycling and disposal. It is also responsible for

our product portfolio.

Product development is structured into various

phases, with a defined release procedure in place

before the transition from one phase to the next.

Product management, handling, service and material

management are involved at an early stage.

The IPE (elements) production follows

the steps below:

Metallization

Large rolls of Polypropylene film are metallized

with a thin layer of metal. The process is realized

under vacuum conditions.

Slitting and winding

The rolls are then cut into smaller ones. This

process as well as the winding is performed in a

room with controlled atmosphere.

Two metallized films are wound together with asmall displacement to allow for contacting. The

final diameter of the active part of the element is

defined at this stage and depends on the element

rating.

Contact spray and clearing

Metal is sprayed on the edges of the winding. After

the spraying process, elements are mechanically

cleaned and an increasing voltage is applied to the

winding to clear any small defect in the capacitordielectric.

Soldering

Connections wires are soldered to the element

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Thermal treatment

The elements are thermally treated under vacuum

to improve life and dielectric characteristics.

Marking

We encapsulate the elements and mark them for

traceability.

PU filling

A capacitor winding may suffer from contact with

air and humidity. The can is thus filled with

polyurethane resin to ensure a perfect seal.

Final test

All capacitor elements are subject to a stringent

routine test with test parameters chosen at or above

the requirements of applicable international

standards. Before final packing and labelling, the

element is again inspected.

The LVCS production is fully automatic

and realized by robots.

In a first step, the protection device is automatically

assembled. To ensure uniform quality there are

several fully automated test and verification station.

A camera and image recognition system does, for

example, verify the correct positioning of the inter-ruption device.

Welded and soldered contacts are verif ied in

electrical tests. Appropriate testing of the dielectric

system (current, voltage, tangent , capacitance) is

performed on both component and final assembly

level. Bar codes are used for traceability.

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Robots also assemble discharge resistors and test

them. The terminals and the discharge resistors are

welded on the element. After that the enclosure is

filled with polyurethane to ensure a perfect seal(also automatically verified).

At the end, we test all products (polyurethane level,

exposed conductive parts, rigidity, capacity and

tangent , discharge resistors, etc).

Assembly of all other products

IPE and LVCS are assembled with other components

according to technical drawings of our other

products: capacitor banks, controllers, Dynacomp

and active filters.

Quality assurance carries out inspections and grants

releases during production. All inspections to be

performed up to the customer acceptance are

defined in quality plans. We use the SPC system

(Statistical Process Control) to control our processes.

Inspection and testing equipment is monitored

according to a documented procedure.

Using appropriate process measurements for quality,

environment and safety and security, we evaluate

our processes, detect any deviations (Capability

process, Capability machine) and define the need

for corrective and preventive measures.

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Auditing and Reviewing of theManagement System

The management system for quality, environmentand safety and security is audited and reviewed

twice a year with objective of achieving continuous

improvements.

Auditing

Our management system is audited twice a year in

accordance with ISO 9001:2000 and OHSAS

18001:1999 and annually for ISO 14001:2004 by an

accredited certifying body.

In addition, we perform environmental and safety

and security inspections of our sites in the presenceof external experts.

In accordance with our internal planning, qualified

internal auditors check all our processes on a regular

basis in internal audits. Potential for improvement

and corresponding actions are logged and audit

reports are submitted. The quality manager

monitors that the improvement measures are carried

out. Information gained during audits is used for

evaluating the management system.

Review

In January and in July, we evaluate the effective-

ness and efficiency of the management system in a

management review. This system of two reviews

allows us to adapt our methods for best perfor-

mances.

The management review report evaluates the quality

of our system, raw materials, suppliers, products,

customer satisfaction, resources management,

environment and safety with regard to continuous

development and attainment of objectives during

the previous year. It also contains a forecast forinternal audits. Moreover, objectives are set for the

coming year.

The Management accepts the report and commu-

nicates the new objectives to the workforce.

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2G

CS901011A000

Copyright 2006 ABB n.v. Power Quality Products

ABBPower Quality ProductsAvenue Centrale, 10Zoning Industriel de JumetB-6040 Charleroi (Jumet), BelgiumPhone: +32 71 250 811Fax: +32 71 344 007

www.abb.com/lowvoltage

2GCS901011A0000-Plant Process Quality

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