Supply chain quality management of magnesium components: Concept, examples and recommendations

Magnesium components offer an enormous potential to achieve considerable weight savings in the automotive industry. As with any innovative construction material, (e.g. carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer, ultra-high-strength steel) a rigid quality management system needs to be established along the supply chain. For this purpose, the concept of the supply chain quality management is to be introduced for the special case of magnesium components, using the example of the magnesium strip production. By the implementation of the widespread ISO 9001 norm, opportunities can be leveraged by both the creation of upstream, downstream linkages and the defined internal processes to achieve the required and stable quality for the automotive industry. The paper suggests procedures and instructions for process control during the magnesium strip production according to the twin-roll casting technology, giving feedback to the respective production system to avoid insufficient quality. The results serve as a basis for the development of all stages up to the assembly of magnesium components. The individual process stages dependent on the manufacturer should be considered during the procedure.