In high-performancesectors such as motorsport and aerospace, challenging standards require rigorous and certified procedures to ensure the safe operation of components and systems, in the toughest conditions. This is why quality is a key issue at Vsystem, as outlined by Chiara Prandi, a management engineer responsible for all aspects relating to this fundamental organisational area at Vsystem.
“At University I sat an exam relating to Quality and Logistics, two areas that interested me due to the variety of elements and relationships they see you manage, spanning the entire production chain in fact, from the supplier to delivery to the client. Essentially, a job that offers a complete overview of what is happening in the company, from a project’s 2D design to the final product and its quality control. Following this entire journey, from the initial stages all the way to delivery of the piece to the client is fascinating, because it requires real attention to every aspect, an ability to evaluate what needs improving, and continuous interfacing with everybody involved, both within the company and client side.”
Quality and motorsport, an inseparable pair
Taking care of every phase of the process becomes even more strategic when it comes to motorsport, a sector where everything is taken to an extreme. Chiara Prandi has this to say: “With motorsport, it’s all more frenetic and fast-paced with shorter delivery times. We need to be able to quickly modify the process and satisfy the client with batches that are small compared to the average. This makes it all more complicated and challenging, not only in terms of execution speed but also the quantity of batches, which don’t allow for statistical analysis of the process itself. A challenge that begins when we decide to try to satisfy the client’s requirements and ends with the ultimate satisfaction, when we achieve the expected result thanks to our competence, process controls and the ability to work under stress.”
The privilege of anticipating innovative trends
Talking to Chiara Prandi, it’s interesting to hear that, unlike most of the people at Vsystem,she considers herself a fan of industry and process rather than of motorsport: “It’snot cars, motorcycles and mechanics that attracts me in my work, but the idea of working with big industrial groups as clients and seeing, often before anyone else, technologies that will be on the market many years after making their debut in the F1 championship. This aspect, the anticipation of trends, is undoubtedly one of the most exciting, in addition to being able to have a complete overview of operations. And the satisfaction is even greater when I see that everything’s good at the end of a race, that the engine has performed or was perhaps the quickest of all, or a driver walks away unscathed from an incident.”
Processes and people are the real stars
Success at Vsystem is the result of the strict quality standards applied and the fundamental contribution of its professional staff, an integral and crucial piece of the puzzle. Success that the company, part of the Veca Group, achieves as a supplier to the world’s main motorsport championships, from F1 to Nascar and from World Rally to Formula Indy.
“Quality is important for a company like Vsystem”, continues Prandi, “and this is why our welders are all specialists who possess various licenses. The quality of the welding is key because the sectors in which we operate - aerospace, defence, motorsport – have special visual and sealing requirements that only qualified operators can guarantee. So, it’s essential that the operator who welds and controls is qualified, which is why we all have numerous licenses and certificates that allow us to manage the entire process, controlling every phase inside Vsystem and the Group so as to maintain full control of every aspect of our production. Remember that we also manage exotic alloys, the processing of which requires specific skills and technology.This is why we’re one of few Italian companies to offer hydroforming. We use only qualified, expert welders rather than automatic or automated welding apparatus that cannot compete with a qualified professional who has their job down to a fine art. And so quality for us at Vsystem means the production chain inside the Veca Group, qualified staff, and unique technology.”
State-of-the-art and next steps
In order to manage the requests of the many markets in which it operates, Vsystem renewed all its certifications during the course of 2023, verifying every single process to ensure ISO:9100 aerospace and ISO:9001 qualification. The company also obtained the new ISO:5001 in summer 2023, while upcoming goals include environmental qualification ISO:14001 and the NADCAP, a pathway that Vsystem is already working towards in order to join the qualified supply chain of key players on the global aerospace and defence markets and in general across North America, where NADCAP is the industrial standard of reference.
