Sunderland plant operates the Nissan Production Way (NPW). Established in 1994, NPW is a global standard based on the principles of Lean production, and is quality-driven and waste-free.
Nissan regards NPW as the ideal manufacturing system where value is added through man, machine, material and method and the end product is measured by quality, cost and delivery. The firm, believes that, applied correctly, NPW will not only enhance customer satisfaction, but also ensure the effective use of financial resources and improve manufacturing capability.
An example of the results of this approach is the 2011 Yellow Angel award from the German motoring organisation ADAC, which has more than 17.5 million members. This demonstrates how the quality assurance approach at the Sunderland plant has been successful in achieving recognition for customer quality performance.
Nissan's QASHQAI model (pictured) came third in the quality award, beating competition such as BMW, Mercedes and Audi. The award is based on a model's combined performance in ADAC's breakdown statistics as well as its customer satisfaction survey which covers the whole German market.