It is expected that the Technical Specification (TS) will become the common and unique basis for the automotive industries quality management system as worldwide requirement, and will gradually replacing the multiple national specifications which is now mainly used in this sector (e.g. QS 9000, AVSQ, VDA6.1, and EAQF). Therefore, IATF 16949:2016 has a potential market comprising more than 30,000 companies, which are now currently certified by one or other national specifications.
The new version aims at the development of a quality management system that provides continual improvement, defect prevention, and the reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain. Incorporating the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 and ISO/TS 16949:2009 also includes details, sector specific requirements for employee’s competence, awareness, training, design, development, production, service provision, control of monitoring, measuring devices, measurement, analysis and improvement.
This standard was developed by a partnership comprising the international Automotive Task Force (IATF) and the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), with the support of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176, which is responsible for ISO 9000 family of quality management system. The individual OEM members of the IATF, including PSA Peugeot Citron, Renault, BMW and Volkswagen, are now in the process of formulating or announcing their policies for implementation of the technical specification by their respective supply bases.
Henry Gryn, leader of the IATF delegation, commented, “The IATF is pleased to announce the release of ISO/TS 16949:2002 for the global automotive supply chain. This technical specification is a value-adding document for the automotive sector. The process of completion was rapid and participated by original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s), suppliers and ISO/TC 176 members. We believe that this technical specification, when coupled with its accompanying registration scheme, has significant benefits for the suppliers to whom it is applicable and for subscribing OEM’s.
ISO/TS 16949:2009, in conjunction with ISO 9001:2008, defines the quality management system requirements for the design and development, production and, when relevant, installation and service of automotive-related products. ISO/TS 16949:2009 is applicable to sites of the organization where customer-specified parts, for production and/or service, are manufactured. Supporting functions, whether on-site or remote (such as design centre, corporate headquarters and distribution centre), form part of the site audit as they support the site, but cannot obtain stand-alone certification to ISO/TS 16949:2009.