1. What is ISO/TS16949:2002 ?
ISO/TS16949:2002 is an ISO Technical Specification which aligns existing US, German, French and Italian automotive quality system standards within the global automotive industry. ISO/TS16949:2002 specifies the quality system requirements for the design/ development, production, installation and servicing of automotive-related products.
2. Who are the authors of ISO/TS16949:2002 ?
ISO/TS16949 was written by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF). The IATF consists of an international group of vehicle manufacturers, BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat Auto, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Renault SA and Volkswagen, plus national trade associations, AIAG (America), VDA (Germany), SMMT (UK), ANFIA (Italy) and FIEV (France). Japanese vehicle manufacturers association, JAMA, have been involved in the development of ISO/TS16949:2002 (see below), and are expected to join IATF as full members in due course.
3. What is the format of ISO/TS16949:2002 ?
Automotive Sector requirements, defining international automotive quality system requirements are contained in ISO/TS16949, which is written around the format of ISO9001:1994, in the case of ISO/TS16949:1999, and ISO9001:2000, in the case of ISO/TS16949:2002.
Customer specific requirements are required by individual subscribing vehicle manufacturers and are provided separately.
4. What are the Eligibility requirements for ISO/TS16949:2002 ?
ISO/TS16949:2002 is relevant to automotive production and service part organisations only.
It is applicable only to sites where production or service parts are manufactured. (A site is defined as: a location at which value added manufacturing processes occur. Manufacturing is defined: as the process of making production materials, parts or assemblies, or heat treating, painting, plating services.). Any tier within the supply chain can apply.
Any potential supplier can only be accepted for registration if they have a documented request for quotation or is on a bid list of a subscribing customer.
This means that:
ISO/TS16949:2002 is also relevant to vehicle manufacturing plants: Jaguar, DaimlerChrysler, Land Rover, Bentley are all working on quality systems to meet ISO/TS16949:2002 requirements.
Scope of applicability for ISO/TS16949:2002 extends beyond road vehicles. Caterpillar have already decided to adopt TS as their supplier approval standard.
Some organisations currently certified to QS-9000 will not be eligible for ISO/ TS16949:2002 registration, for example: stockists and organisations who have no automotive customers.
Organisations which have automotive and non-automotive product will require separate certification for these separate product groups. They would have ISO/TS16949:2002 certification for their automotive activities, and ISO9001:2000 (or an alternative specified by their non-automotive customers) for the non-automotive business.
Organisations wishing to break into the automotive market must wait until they are on an automotive customer's potential supplier list before they can progress with registration
5. Will ISO/TS16949 be revised to align with ISO 9001:2000 ?
IATF have integrated ISO/TS16949 with ISO 9001:2000. The final draft version has been ratified by ISO committees, and formal issue of ISO/TS16949:2002 took place in March 2002. IATF are also developing a revised QSA Checklist, revised Scheme Rules and a new Guidance Document for ISO/TS16949:2002, which will include examples and automotive clarifications, but will be non-auditable.
Assessments to ISO/TS16949:2002 will be available from quarter 3, 2002, following the formal issue of the documents. This is subject to availability of 3rd party assessor training. Clients who are certified to ISO/TS16949:1999 will be given until the end of 2003 to upgrade their certification to ISO/TS16949:2002.
Note: There are currently no plans to align QS-9000, VDA6.1, AVSQ or EAQF with ISO9001:2000.
6. Will ISO/TS16949 be accepted in addition to current automotive standards such as QS-9000 and VDA 6.1 ?
Yes. Along with customer specific requirements, ISO/TS16949 has been accepted as equivalent to the following automotive quality standards:
QS-9000 (America)
VDA 6.1 (Germany)
AVSQ (Italy)
EAQF (France)
7. Will current automotive quality standards be replaced by ISO/TS16949 ?
QS-9000 has been given an extension of 3 years beyond 15th December 2003 (the expiry date of ISO9001:1994). Clients certified to QS-9000 will therefore have until 14th December 2006 to upgrade to ISO/TS16949:2002 although this may be subject to specific vehicle manufacturer requirements. New certification to QS-9000 will still be possible in the period up to 14th December 2006, but all QS-9000 certificates will become obsolete from 15th December 2003.
Any certificates issued to ISO/TS16949:1999 will expire on 15th December 2003, and will therefore need upgrading to the 2002 version before that date.
The future of the other standards should be confirmed during 2002.
8. Are any Changes required to QS-9000 Certificates?
Certificates for QS-9000 will require amendment to be valid past 15th December 2003. IASG Sanctioned Interpretation issued on this subject will be effective from July 1st 2002. All new certificates from 1st July 2002 will be issued containing new wording. All existing certificates will be reissued before 15th December 2003 to include the new wording.
New certificates for QS-9000 can continue to be issued throughout the extended period, but must be transferred over to ISO/TS16949 by 14th December 2006. Again QS-9000 will cease to exist on 15th December 2006.
9. What will be the impact of ISO 9001:2000 on QS-9000 and ISO/TS 16949:1999?
ISO9001:1994, on which QS-9000 is based becomes obsolete on 15th December 2003. However, QS-9000 Supplier Quality Requirements Task Force (SQRTF) have been granted an extension of 3 years by ISO to continue to use ISO9001:1994 in conjunction with QS-9000.
It is not mandatory for a QS-9000 client to upgrade their quality system to comply with the requirements of ISO9001:2000. However, it would be possible to obtain certification to ISO9001:2000 in combination with QS-9000 Edition 3 certification.
This would be a business decision for the client. Such certification would result in two separate certificates. This dual certification requirement would not require separate audits, but the QS-9000 Appendix H mandays must be observed for the QS-9000 element of the joint assessment.
Any client currently certified to ISO/TS16949:1999 would fall into the same category, ie. It is possible to obtain certification to ISO9001:2000 in combination with ISO/TS16949:1999 certification. Again this would be a business decision for the client, resulting in two separate certificates. This dual certification requirement would not require separate audits, but TS scheme rules for mandays must be observed
If a client holds a certificate with a split scope (i.e. part QS-9000, part ISO9000), the element relating to QS-9000 will be reissued with new wording, and be valid until December 2006. The element relating to ISO9000 will require upgrading to ISO9001:2000. This would, as before, result in the issue of separate certificates. No new certificates will be issued with split scopes, separate certificates will be issued from the outset.
10. Which vehicle manufactures will accept ISO/TS16949 ?
Ford, GM, DaimlerChrysler, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Renault, Fiat, BMW, Daimler Benz and Volkswagen all support ISO/TS 16949. DaimlerChrysler. Japanese and Korean manufacturers may also recognise ISO/TS16949:2002 as a valid supplier approval mechanism in future.
Formal communications by Big 3 regarding their particular requirements have been made. Read our Vehicle Manufacturer Requirements section for more information.
Customer Specific Requirements: For subscribing members, these are to be made available via the IAOB website (Big 3 specifics are already referenced on this site) at www.iaob.org Note that some customer specifics may be incorporated into Purchasing agreements
