Quality has always been at the heart of Toyota culture, and the way the company approaches quality is best in class. Any Toyota supplier must quickly learn the company’s very rigorous and well-documented quality requirements. Toyota is widely acknowledged as the global standard when it comes to quality, and it has the same expectation of its suppliers.

In North America, ArcelorMittal has been supplying Toyota for many years.  ArcelorMittal Dofasco first started shipping coils to Toyota when Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) opened in 1988. AM/NS Calvert started supplying the OEM more recently, after the JV was established in 2014.

One of Toyota’s key measures of supplier performance is called a Quality Problem Report (QPR). Each year, Toyota provides suppliers with an annual QPR performance target based on the amount of exposed material supplied: typically, between 2 and 5 QPRs are allowed. A QPR triggers a formal root cause analysis in accordance with Toyota’s rigorous process which results in mandatory countermeasures being implemented.

Joe Scardamaglia, ArcelorMittal’s Global Account Manager responsible for Toyota says, “Historically, we have received at least a couple of QPRs each year and occasionally up to 4 or 5. 2021 was the first year we have ever gone through an entire year with zero!” He adds that with AM/NS Calvert being a relatively new supplier, particularly for exposed material, the team has done remarkably well complying with Toyota’s stringent quality requirements.

There is no formal recognition for this outstanding performance, but this accomplishment does support the significant value proposition we offer to Toyota.  Scardamaglia says, “Team members from operations, quality, and technology at both AM/NS Calvert and ArcelorMittal Dofasco place a high priority on conforming to Toyota quality processes, which was evident in last year’s performance.   The industry view is--- if you can successfully supply to Toyota, you can successfully supply to anybody.”

Congratulations to all of those who contributed to this exceptional performance for one of our most valuable automotive customers.