István Tamási: Quality Extends Beyond the Products
István Tamási, Director of EU Quality & Safety at DENSO International Europe (DIEU)
Profile
István joined DENSO Hungary in 1999 as a Quality Engineer. During his tenure, he worked extensively with Japanese and non-Japanese carmakers and several business units, including diesel and electrification. Over time, he took on additional responsibilities and eventually became responsible for managing the Quality Department in Hungary.
As part of his professional development, István had the opportunity to work in Japan for one year in the diesel engineering division of the Volvo i-ART Project. After returning to Hungary, he was promoted to Technical Vice President at DMHU. In this capacity, he was responsible for overseeing manufacturing, production engineering, maintenance, and R&D.
Currently, István has taken on new responsibilities as Director of EU Quality & Safety at DENSO International Europe.
Where he works
Based in Amsterdam at the regional headquarters of DENSO in Europe, István oversees the Quality and Safety Unit at DENSO in Europe.
His role involves ensuring the quality of the company's products by leading preventive and corrective actions to minimize any inconveniences faced by users and contribute to preparing their products and processes. Additionally, as a safety leader, he preserves associates’ lives, health, and physical condition by ensuring a safe working environment.
In case of any issues, the Quality team acts as the bridge between the company and customers, representing the company directly. As such, they must maintain professionalism and thoroughly understand the company's operations.
Quality covers beyond the quality of products, more extensively, the quality of work
Problems in quality arise from nonconformity. The aim is to focus on prevention by ensuring the production's quality is consistent from the beginning of the design process to the final services.
With DENSO's motto of "Safety & Quality," it is vital to work towards these objectives instead of just seeing them as a slogan. Both seem apparent, but we only truly understand the importance of these words when they are missing.
We are expected to deliver quality to our customers at every step of the way. If we can meet our customers’ expectations, we retain our credibility. Our continuous efforts are the main reason why the trust between DENSO and its customers has always been there and remains to bring us profit.
“The trust of our customers and the quality of the products is our competitiveness in the market and the main goal we are working towards daily.”
Practice advanced communication and normalize two-way feedback
Everyone needs to strive for excellence in their respective fields. To achieve this, the expectations for each associate must be clearly defined.
For instance, we expect those in production to be well-versed in safety regulations, while designers should have access to all necessary tools to focus on their creativity. Involvement and explanation in the process are essential so that every person at the company understands the expectations, regardless of their position.
As a leader, I had to develop and practice advanced communication skills to pass on the expectations and understand the difficulty of every associate. Staying in touch with my colleagues and spending time with them is essential so that communication and two-way feedback remain constant and become habitual.
Encourage forward thinking to anticipate the ever-changing future technology
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Our main goals are Carbon Neutrality and Peace of Mind, and we all need to be aware of the future challenges to achieve these goals. We contribute to this through electrification and the development of automatic driving systems. However, these fields still need to develop entirely new technologies, and our job is to work towards them.
We need to elevate technology rather than step-by-step development as kaizen. Our customers expect us to come up with solutions and to deliver the highest quality and the newest technologies instantly.
I’d define this as the spotlight of my job, but we also need to create systems and quality frames so that the technology can be applied to future products.
What do you like about DENSO?
DENSO is a company that has a deep understanding of the future and corporate social responsibility.
Innovation impacts not only the products we create but also the whole process and human development it requires. This is why, I appreciate the company’s efforts to have a solid corporate culture and facilitate the collaboration of different departments and many talent
Working with István
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Eduard Macia, Manufacturing Director at DENSO Barcelona
I had the pleasure of knowing Istvan for about 15 years when we started a journey with thirteen other European colleagues: the 1st RAPID Program in the EU region for future leaders. This journey is still on its way, and it is not over!
From the first moment, we connected and established a strong link that we have maintained over the years. We’ve worked together in several regional activities, and Istvan is direct, transparent, committed, and passionate; working with him is easy, and he is always ready to collaborate.
He has a good balance of technical and business approaches, always caring for the people and promoting their continuous development to grow the organization.
Istvan continuously looks for new challenges and finds the best strategies to succeed. He has developed strong and well-recognized leadership throughout his career.
As a great DENSO leader, he’ll help us overcome the significant challenges of the new mobility era.