Quality Contract Guidelines Quality Management is growing in importance. Many customers from companies that process steel and metals are outsourcing the production of parts and components to their suppliers to an ever greater extent. The quality aspects of development and production of parts, especially in the automotive industry and their supply chain, has increased in significance as expectations of the end customers will stay high and disappointments concerning quality will lead to decline of business. In this environment the cooperation between customers and suppliers, becomes more and more fundamental. The common objective of minimisation of defects can only be reached by a quality strategy that is integrated and agreed between all involved parties. The Quality Contract should serve this ambition by giving a guideline for agreements concerning quality that are balanced and should not discriminate one of the contractual partners. The Quality Contract Guidelines describe the procedures that forging companies and their customers jointly agree in order to develop a successful partnership through the objective of pursuing a zero defect strategy and the minimisation of quality costs. Quality Contract Guidelines