August 22, 2013. Ural Locomotives (Sinara Group and Siemens AG’s joint venture based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region) got the IRIS certification and now meets the international railway requirements. The certificate was issued by a group of auditors from Quality Austria and upon its recommendation, Sinara Group’s PR Department reports.

The IRIS (International Railware Industry Standard) certification system was designed at the European railway union’s (UNIFE) initiative to improve the quality of products and services among the railway industry suppliers.

Ural Locomotives started working on the IRIS standards in August 2014. Over these two years, the company managed to launch five of the IRIS key modules: a system of quality expenses control, a system of inspection control and regular assessment of supplier’s reliability indicators, a quality control system for the first product, a system of reliability and repair capacity, and a consumer satisfaction assessment system.

More than 360 people were trained in terms of the IRIS methodology, and over 100 job descriptions were re-worked to account for the special knowledge, skills, methods, and means available. 39 new organizational standards, 36 manuals, and 51 business process maps were developed. Ural Locomotives also switched to lean production. All this is expected to let the company improve its production and technological processes, cut down on the cost of product lifecycle at the development, design, production, and operation stages.