ISO/TS 16949
ISO/TS 16949 is an international technical standard for the automotive industry which defines the requirements for quality management systems. It was created to support global harmonization of quality standards and to help the automotive industry improve quality and reduce costs. All organizations involved in the production and supply of components, parts or complete systems in the automotive industry can be certified according to ISO/TS 16949.
ISO/TS16949 is based on ISO 9001 and draws on other national and industrial standards, including QS-9000, VDA 6.1, EAQF and AS 9100. The most important characteristics of this standard are its practice-oriented process and system based approach, its customer focus and emphasis on the continued improvement of the management system.
The certification according to this automotive sector standard is a key requirement in order to supply components to the major automotive organizations and suppliers. Thanks to its broad applicability, ISO/TS16949 is also of increasing importance to other non-automotive industries, especially in the mechanical engineering field.
The ISO/TS 16949 standard defines requirements for a quality management system that enable an organization to continuously identify, measure, assess and reduce customer-specific and internal process risks. That allows for the continual improvement of processes and products. With this, the standard defines characteristics for the organization’s staff, human resources and equipment which need to be in compliance with the system.
The standard consists of the following elements:
• Context of the Organization
• Leadership
• Planning
• Support
• Operation
• Performance Evaluation
• Improvement
Organizations can use ISO/TS 16949 to demonstrate compliance with customer statutory and regulatory requirements and implement a quality management system designed to improve customer satisfaction.
The certification process can start after a successful internal audit and the subsequent implementation of corrective actions. After successful completion of the first certification audit, the certification is issued and the company is monitored in regular intervals.
The main benefits of the ISO/TS 16949 standard include increased customer satisfaction, reduced costs, increased reliability and transparency of processes, increased efficiency and improved quality.
ISO/TS 16949 is a very important standard in the automotive industry and non automotive sector as it leads to enhancing customer satisfaction, ensuring consistent quality and performance of products, reducing defects and waste, reducing customer complaints, reducing delivery time and costs and ensuring traceability for parts and products. It also serves as an effective tool for controlling customer related processes, verifying conformance with customer requirements and speeding up the certification process.
