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ISO/TS (Technical
Specification) 16949 is a quality
management system standard specific to
the Automotive industry, which includes
all the requirements of the ISO 9000
quality management system standard
verbatim. In addition, the standard
combines the AVSQ (Italian), EAQF
(French), QS-9000 (US) and VDA 6.1
(German) automotive requirements.
Originally published
in 1999 by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO),
ISO/TS 16949 was developed jointly by
the International Automotive Task Force
(IATF). The IATF consists of an
international group of automotive
manufacturers and national automotive
associations including but not limited
to DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor
Company, General Motors Corporation, BMW
and Volkswagen.
ISO/TS 16949,
coupled with customer-specific
requirements, defines the quality system
requirements for use in the automotive
supply chain.
Currently, Ford, GM,
DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Fiat, PSA
Peugeot-Citroen, Renault SA and
Volkswagen AG, all accept ISO /TS 16949.
By becoming ISO/TS 16949 certified,
suppliers can gain a competitive
advantage, and benefit from the improved
processes and continuous improvement
that is the foundation of ISO 9000
certified Quality Management Systems.
In April 2002, a new
revised standard ISO/TS 16949:2002 was
introduced. The new ISO/TS 16949:2002
standard replaces ISO/TS 16949:1999, VDA
6.1, AVSQ & EAQF certification.
Companies currently certified to these
quality systems must upgrade their
systems to the new ISO/TS 16949:2002
standard by December 15, 2003. In an
August 2002 letter, DaimlerChrysler
Group, Ford Motor Company and General
Motors Corp. have agreed to allow their
ISO/TS 16949:1999 certified suppliers an
additional one-year grace period,
allowing suppliers until December 15,
2004 to transition from ISO/TS
16949:1999 to the 2002 version.
Benefits of ISO/TS 16949
Benefits of becoming
ISO/TS 16949 certified include:
• Improved process
quality
• Reassignment of
supplier resources to quality
improvement
• Common quality
system approach in the supplier
development for consistency
• Additional
confidence in global sourcing
• Reduction in
second-party audits
• Common language to
improve understanding of quality
requirements
• Reduction of
variation and increased efficiency
• Reduction in
multiple third-party registrations
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