China increased its economic power through a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization in the past decade. A key city that experienced open industrial and commercial growth is Kunshan City, which aims to continue its industrial development and at the same time conserve its environment. AIM is a Private Sector Partnership (PSP) project jointly implemented by Vossloh, TÜV NORD, and ASSIST, and aims to improve the quality and environmental management systems in Vossloh’s supply chain in the Kunhan Industrial Estate in China thus, contributing to a more sustainable industrial system in China.
The AIM project was implemented in three key phases: 1. conduction of four one-day ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 awareness sessions; 2. technical assistance to five companies helping them align their practices with the above ISO standards; and 3. processing of the certification and the development of e-tools to assist this process. Three training of trainers (ToT) sessions were also conducted to qualify 60 local trainers and create a local pool of trainers on these international standards. A Body of Knowledge (BoK) document was also developed, benchmarking ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards in Chinese and English languages to build the local capacity.
The project raised awareness on these quality and environmental standards among companies in Kunshan City. E-newsletter and e-learning kits were developed and distributed along with the organisation of drawing and slogan writing competitions to educate companies and increase interest on the importance of Quality and Environmental Management Systems (QEMS).
