Product safety and reliability
Rail infrastructure is highly relevant to safety. Vossloh‘s products and services are therefore subject to detailed technical specifications and standards that must be complied with. All major production sites have a quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001 or a comparable national standard such as the US AAR M1003. As of the reporting date December 31, 2023, 96 % of Vossloh employees were employed by a unit certified in this way, unchanged from the previous year. The proportion of operating companies with corresponding certification was 94 % as in the previous year.
The products and services generally undergo thorough testing that often lasts for years before they are applied to the tracks. This is performed on the company’s own test benches and in its own testing laboratories, with test usage by the customers and as part of the complex approval process of certified testing organizations. All of Vossloh’s business units have their own Research and Development departments, which are staffed by highly specialized professionals.
Vossloh sometimes maintains business relationships with customers that last for decades. Satisfied customers are a prerequisite for such partnership-based cooperation, which is why the Vossloh units attach great importance to structured feedback – also in order to learn from any mistakes. In 2024, a tool from the standardized customer relationship management (CRM) software, which has now been rolled out across the Group, will be used for the first time for this purpose.
To minimize possible issues jeopardizing the safety of its products and services, Vossloh is very careful in its choice of suppliers. All of Vossloh’s partners are repeatedly assessed on the basis of fixed aspects, in particular concerning quality. Contracts are only awarded to companies on the list of approved suppliers. Vossloh suppliers must generally be able to guarantee at all times that their goods and services meet the applicable regulatory and statutory requirements.