Ensures customers receive consistent, good quality products and services
What is IATF 16949?
IATF 16949:2016 was published by the IATF and supersedes and replaces the current ISO/TS 16949 on October 2016, defining the requirements of a quality management system for organizations in the automotive industry.
IATF 16949:2016 is the global technical specification and quality management standard for the automotive industry based on ISO 9001:2015. It is designed to be used in conjunction with ISO 9001:2015, and contains supplemental requirements specific to the automotive industry rather than being a stand-alone QMS.
IATF 16949:2016 brings together standards from across Europe and the U.S., outlining everything you need to know about achieving best practice when designing, developing, manufacturing, installing, or servicing automotive products. It is intended to be used by organizations of any size or industry, and can be used by any company. As an international standard, it is recognized as the basis for any company to create a system to ensure customer satisfaction and improvement, and as such, many companies demand this as the minimum requirement for an organization to be a supplier.
The primary focus of the IATF 16949 standard is the development of a Quality Management System that provides for continual improvement, emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain. The standard, combined with applicable Customer-Specific Requirements (CSR’s), define the QMS requirements for automotive production, service and/or accessory parts.
IATF 16949 Structure
The IATF 16949 structure is split into 10 sections. The first three are introductory, with the last seven containing the requirements for the Quality Management System. Here is what the seven main sections are about:
Section 4: Context of the organization – This section requires the organization to determine its context in terms of the Quality Management System, including interested parties and their needs and expectations. It also defines the requirements for determining the scope of the QMS, as well as general QMS requirements.
Section 5: Leadership – This clause of the standard requires top management to demonstrate leadership and commitment to the QMS, along with defining corporate responsibility and the quality policy. The top management must also assign process owners along with other roles and responsibilities.
Section 6: Planning – The section on planning defines requirements for addressing risks and opportunities and the requirements for risk analysis. This clause also includes requirements for preventive actions, contingency plans, and quality objectives and plans to achieve them.
Section 7: Support – In this clause you can find requirements for the resources and supporting processes needed for an effective QMS. It defines requirements for people, infrastructure, work environment, monitoring and measuring resources, organizational knowledge, competence, awareness, communication, and documented information.
Section 8: Operation – The product requirements deal with all aspects of the planning and creation of the product or service. This section includes requirements on planning, product requirements review, design, purchasing, creating the product or service, and controlling the equipment used to monitor and measure the product or service. IATF 16949 allows for requirements in clause 8.3, regarding design and development of products, to be excluded if they are not applicable to the company.
Section 9: Performance evaluation – This section includes the requirements needed to make sure that you can monitor whether your QMS is functioning well. It includes assessing customer satisfaction, internal audits, monitoring products and processes, and management review.
Section 10: Improvement – The last section of the standard defines the requirements for continual improvement of the QMS, including requirements for nonconformities and corrective actions, problem solving, and error-proofing processes.
These sections are based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, which uses these elements to implement change within the processes of the organization in order to drive and maintain improvements within the processes.
Benefits of IATF 16949:
When to Implement IATF 16949
Compliance to the IATF 16949 standard can be done at any time but is typically used when:
- Customers specify this requirement as part of the contract
- Organizations want to improve their products and customer satisfaction
How to Implement IATF 16949
Organizations’ deciding to develop and implement any new or improved QMS is a strategic decision. All efforts should be focused on the identification and minimization of risk while meeting and exceeding customer and organizational goal and objective requirements.
Organizations should make a commitment to:
- Recognize direct and indirect customers as those who receive value from the organization
- Understand customers current and future needs and expectations
- Link the organization’s objectives to customer needs and expectations
- Communicate customer needs and expectations throughout the organization
- Plan, design, develop, produce, deliver and support products to meet customer needs and expectations
- Measure and monitor customer satisfaction and take appropriate actions
- Determine and take actions on interested parties needs and expectations that can affect customer satisfaction
- Actively manage relationships with customers to achieve sustained success
- Become more socially responsible
- Provide necessary resources to ensure product safety requirements are met