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Westad Industri A/S was established in 1895 in Geithus where the firm also is situated today. The local wood-processing industry formed the basis for the activity in the beginning. The products were valves and pipe components then, as now. As the ship industry in Norway grew, products for this industry were developed and like many other ship equipment manufacturers, Westad kept contact and control of the marked when shipbuilding was moved out in Europe and Asia. Today the company is exporting about 75% of total production to these markets and is one of the leading suppliers of cargo valves for chemical, LPG, LNG-ship and terminals. The production activity of oil and gas on the Norwegian section of Continental Shelf opened a new marked for Westad. The first delivery was as early as in 1978 for the Statfjord B platform. Since this Westad has delivered valves for almost every installation on the Norwegian section of Continental Shelf. The demands for anticorrosion, longer lifetime and maintenance free products have led to Westad developing products in constant more "exotic" materials, latest in titanium. The experience with titanium has also resulted in considerable deliveries to the South American mining industry. As one of the Norwegian pioneer suppliers to oil and gas activities on the Continental Shelf, Westad was one of the first ones to get a certified QA-system. Westad was already in 1985 accepted according to NS 5801 by DnV. Our first certificate actually has number 006! From the beginning and until 1985 Westad Industri AS was family business. BIRD TECHNOLOGY AS took over as a sole owner in 1985. In 1994 all BIRD's subsidiaries were sold and Westad was taken over by the American concern Mark Controls from 1.1.94. Mark Controls again was however bought up four months later by the exchange listed company Crane Co. which owned Westad Industri A/S until 2006. In April 2006 Westad was acquired by the Norwegian based Technor group. The Technor group is an international technology group with its
head office in Stavanger and with its own operational businesses in Norway, France, the UK and the United Arab Emirates.
The Group has two core areas, ElectroTech and FlowTech, and two main markets, oil & gas and LNG.
Westad's Mission To provide excellent financial performance and to assist other Crane Valve companies in achieving their strategic goals. For this Westad provides excellent products and services with a continuous customer focus. While meeting its primary responsibilities, Westad is to serve
its employees, end-user industries, suppliers and community with
support for continued development and improvement. Westad currently provides specialised, engineering-intensive and quality-intensive butterfly valves and ball valves to the tanker marine and oil and gas industries. Typical marine applications include gas-cargo systems, chemical cargo systems and ballast systems. The products for the oil and gas industry are applied in process and utility systems. Where required to satisfy customer requirements for a complete package, the Westad-made product offering is complimented with private labelled valves, name brand valves, actuators and actuator systems. Westad markets its products mostly through the pursuit of projects. Sales effort comes from direct employees and commissioned representatives. Buying influence resides with end-users, engineering consultants, and contractors (shipyards). The strength of the Westad brand name in the marine industry and the Norwegian offshore industry is a major factor in Westad's market position. In executing its market strategy, eBusiness will become an increasingly important tool. Westad has an integrated manufacturing operation that takes bar material and castings and completes the product through assembly, testing and delivery. Westad relies heavily on its internal engineering department for application-engineering support, manufacturing support and new product development. Westad maintains a quality system in accordance with ISO-9001. The (DNV) certification is current. A formal Operational Excellence program is in place to co-ordinate continuous improvement initiatives. The program focuses on production and as well as transactional improvement opportunities. Westad supports its greater community (employees, suppliers, industry and local civic community) in a variety of ways. The objective of these activities is to contribute to the progress of the constituents in their specific circumstances. Vision (summary) Westad's general objectives are formulated in support of
profitable growth, broadening of the business base, fixed cost
reduction and profitability enhancement.
Targets: Strategy: The Quality Manager has the responsibility to update the quality system according to the demands of ISO 9001. Further, the Quality Manager has responsibility to monitor the
function of the system and that it is being followed up to in all
parts of the organisation. If this is not the fact, the Quality
Manager has authority to implement necessary initiatives. The
effect of the quality system shall be monitored by the Quality
Manager and the results shall be reported regularly to the
management (ref. 1.5 The Management Evaluation). 1.4 THE MANAGEMENT'S EVALUATION At least once a year the management has to evaluate the quality system. The Quality Manager is responsible for this. The evaluation shall cover, but not be limited to: - Previous Mng. review. A document containing the guidelines for this meeting is
internally available on the server. Westad's quality assurance system is described in the Quality Handbook and in the Instructions available on Intranet. The instructions are divided into fields described below and
shall be composed by the person responsible to perform whatever
described or by the superior of the person concerned. The
President approves instructions, which are composed by his closest
subordinates. The remaining instructions are to be approved by the
Quality Manager. Each section leader is responsible for the
instructions to be followed. · The ability to deliver products or services that meets the
agreed, written, spoken or implicitly requirements or expectations. · Quality includes all processes from product development to
expiration of the guarantee period of a sold product The quality system shall be the management's tool for: · Reaching the stated quality policy
The quality assurance system at Westad Industri A/S shall
follow the relevant parts of ISO 9001. The quality handbook describes our quality system and is built
upon our existing instructions, routines and documents. The
intention is a superior description facing our employees and
customers. The handbook is divided in 6 chapters, which each
describes the different parts of the company's activities. The
quality handbook is published in Norwegian and in English. By
departure of the two handbooks, the Norwegian is the prevailing. Instructions describe how we perform our work. The instructions are divided in areas. The Quality Manager files paper copies of all instructions. The instructions are saved on the common area on the net server as *.pdf-files. When a file is saved as *.pdf, it is not possible to make changes and you can only reprint the file. Each user have easy and quick access through our intranet.
The handbook for Occupational Safety (HMS) This book is considered to be a part of the quality system, and contains a combination of Government-laws and internal procedures. Reference to this book is made in the Personnel Handbook. The Personel Handbook
The Project Handbook This book is considered to be a part of the quality system, and
describes important topics to be remembered by the Project
Managers. References are made to the Westad Instructions whenever
it is necessary. All employees have a general job description, but the following
have a more exact job description: management, administration,
foremen and inspectors. The job descriptions shall be filed. The MSA is an agreement between DNV and Westad. We are
accredited to do a certain amount of the valve testing on behalf
of DNV and their surveyors. Ref. the MSA document in the QA office,
and instruction: Our quality system will from spring 2002 allow us to supply products that are covered under the PED. This means that the quality system shall comply with all requirements in the PED. Several instructions are made just for this purpose, but old instructions have also been modified for the new process. The main instructions are TI 010E and TI 003N. The certificate from DNV can document this. The quality handbook The handbook for Occupational Safety (HMS) The Personnel Handbook The Project Handbook Department routines 2.3 STATISTICAL SYSTEMS In addition to documentation described in 2.1, existing
documents, which each department files and deal with own filing
and numbering systems. Registration All documents showing whether specification demands are fulfilled or not, shall be registered. Documents which shall be managed, include both product and system documentation. That means both documents from customer, authorities, organisations, if possible others, and documents (paper or electronic) composed in the company. 2.5 NON-CONFORMANCE REPORT SYSTEM The Non-Conformance Report System is Westad's system for detecting, disposal, corrective actions and preventive actions. The system is fully electronic and includes the possibility for sending by e-mail to subcontractors etc. The Quality Manager is responsible for determining the method, and also the survey and follow-up actions in this process. (Ref. Instruction KV 001N). The purpose is to increase the profit and quality in such way that it supports all parties. Today we have the proper tools for this task, in form of statistical analysis tools and process-improvement tools. Deviation treatment shall also secure that documents and products with deviation are not used in the further production. All manufactured products received goods, drawings, equipment and remaining documents, which are not in accordance with specified demands, shall be marked and held separately or destroyed. This is to avoid unacceptable departures being used in further production or sent to customers. 2.6 CORRECTIVE AND PREVENTIVE ACTIONS Corrective actions Action to remove the cause of the existing problem: The system for corrective actions includes finding the cause of the deviation and go through with necessary changes, this passes for both the management system as for the products in the company. When more extensive actions shall be effected, a meeting will be called to discuss necessary/desirable quality and productivity improvements. The participants in these meetings are normally the Quality Manager, Production Manager, Director of Engineering, purchaser, foreman and QC inspector. Preventive actions Actions to remove the potential risk of problems and deviations: 2.7 VERIFICATION AND REVIEW OF QUALITY A continuously process of updating instructions to improve the quality of our products shall be in progress. Our own and the customers experience with our products shall be brought into consideration. The Quality Manager is responsible for planning and arranging all quality revisions. The revision shall be executed by a revision committee or by persons authorised by the Quality Manager. The quality revision shall also be executed to control that the system is functioning according to the given quality purposes in the company and general demands to quality assurance. Weekly quality meeting (QA-fora) The Quality Forum is an ongoing / weekly event with the purpose to discuss and decide upon practical issues related to QA basically in the production, but also in other departments. The focus is on Lean Thinking, international and local standards. The issues are driven by a continuos need to bring our products in line with the always changing process descriptions, which again are driven by changes in customer needs, improvement proposals, etc. The issues are also driven by non-conformances. Between 3 and 7 new items each week. Weekly and monthly Management meeting As described in 2.3. Internal audit (1. party) The internal quality audit includes all elements in the quality assurance system. The audit shall be effected periodically according to plan. The audit shall be executed in each department and should also be executed if important conditions for the system have changed or when essential corrective actions are carried out. Several audits of processes covering several departments may replace the audit in each department. The results of the audits shall be documented and be exhibited the responsible within each of the revised areas. The responsible for the field, shall do corrective actions according to the result of the audit within a determined time. External audit (2. party) Audit of subsuppliers shall be executed in the extent this is necessary to secure the final product. The Quality Manager is responsible for planning and execution of external audits together with the Purchase Manager. All audits shall be documented. Our customers have the right to undertake an audit of our company if this is specified in the actual contract. Authority audit (3. party) DNV - Det Norske Veritas is executing the 3. party audit at Westad on yearly basis. All reports are registered. 2.8 CONTINOUOS IMPROVEMENT FOCUS |
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