ASSIST officially kicked off the DEG-funded AIM (Awareness and Capacity Building to Improve Quality and Environment Management Standards) project in a launching ceremony held in Kunshan, China on January 10, 2013, followed by a series of awareness sessions conducted on January 11, 18, 22 and 25.
AIM is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project jointly implemented by Vossloh, TÜV NORD and ASSIST. The Project will target the supply chain of Vossloh located in the Kunshan Industrial estate, thus contributing to a more sustainable industrial system in China.
During the launching ceremony, the project was officially introduced to about 100 participants who constitute a substantial share of Vossloh’s supply chain. S. Sathappan, Project and Grants Management Director of ASSIST, personally congratulated the stakeholders on the commencement of the project and gave the project overview, which was followed by welcome messages by Li Yongjun, Change Dept. Manager and Song Haining, System Certification Business Director – both from TÜV NORD, as well as Vossloh Sourcing Department Manager.
AIM project implementation will be split into three phases. During the initial phase, which has already been concluded, four 1-day ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 awareness sessions were conducted in Kunshan City. This is to be followed by the second phase, whereas at least five companies will be provided with technical assistance to align their practices with the above ISO standards. In addition to this, certification training program and trainings of trainers will take place. The body of knowledge will also be delivered at this stage which will benchmark the ISO standards in Chinese and English languages. The project will be wrapped up during the last, third, phase when the organization certification process will commence and e-tools to assist this process will be developed.
