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Automotive Industry

Process approach to quality: TS 16949's second coming serves not only as wall decor but as a complete business analysis

Automotive Industries, June, 2004

Originally penned in 1999, and then Rewritten in 2002, TS 16949 has really started to pick up steam. The new standard takes a more holistic look at a company's business to assess the quality system.

While the actual product quality is part of the equation, TS 16949 also analyzes the management processes, shipping, customer satisfaction and a number of other metrics for continual improvement.

"The development of a quality management system that provides for continual improvement, emphasizing defect prevention and the reducing of variation and waste in the supply chain, This technical specification in conjunction with applicable customer specific requirements for query systems defines the fundamental quality management system for those subscribing to this document," this is the published goal for the new standard from the TS guide.

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To further get to the essence of this new standard we talked to a certifier and companies that had undergone audits to see what they thought.

The Certifier

Bob Kozak, Technical Specialist/Lead Auditor for DNV, spent some time explaining the history of the new standard as well as outlining what it entails.

This second edition of ISO/TS 16949 replaces ISO/TS 16949:1999. The first edition contained ISO 9001:1994 in its entirety, while the second edition of TS 16949 contains ISO 9001:2000 which promotes the adoption of a process approach when developing, implementing and improving the effectiveness of a quality system, to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements.

This approach emphasizes understanding and meeting requirements, the need to consider processes in terms of value, obtaining results of process performance and continual improvement of processes based on objective measurement.

Some of the framers responsible for the contents of the standard were the International Automotive Taskforce and the Japan Automobile Manufactures Inc. with support from the ISO/TC (technical committee) 176.

"One of the big challenges in the automotive industry in North America is low cost. It's also a challenge to all manufacturers to not only stay profitable but to maintain their quality levels, ramping up quality, meeting consumer expectations to do well in J. D. Power surveys and so forth I All the while trying to cut cost. And that's where the continual improvement cycle comes in. Companies will need to master improvement not just in the quality of the product but rather all the processes in the company to add the entire value stream of the company," Kozak explained.

"If you want to do business in the automotive industry, as a supplier, TS 16949 is a requirement that GM, Ford and Chrysler have deadlines requiring compliance. Chrysler has the tightest deadline on TS 16949, which is July of 2004 for its 1st tier suppliers."

With the deadlines on the horizon, companies have already begun the process and in some cases received the accreditation. Steps included in the process are as follows:

1. Readiness Review--Customer score cards are analyzed. High enough scores allow companies to start the process. In the case of the customer score cards being substandard they cannot even qualify to undergo the audit. In addition to customer score cards, a complete cycle of internal audit management reviews, a list of trained auditors, a list of customers, customer specific requirements, a list of corrective actions taken in the case of customer complaints and operational performance trends for the past 12 months must be submitted.

2. Quality" Manual review I makes sure that companies adhere to all the requirements set forth in ISO TS 16949 that they have designed for themselves (including a process model of the quality system).

3. Audit plan--the lead auditor and experts from that industry segment with product commodity experience identify all the processes within the company and make sure that each process is analyzed. Risk to customer is analyzed, including customer satisfaction performance metrics to guide the on-site audit focus. High PPM's, late delivery trends, spills, recalls, and safety" related parts all constitute "risk" to the customer. The auditors are meant to represent the customers (OEMs) and consumers in all quality systems audits.

4. Test the control on each process I Whether it's manufacturing or shipping, the checks and balances for each process are tested.

After giving the background info on TS 16949, Kozak also went on to illustrate a few things he felt were important about the new standard, "A big part of this TS 16949 is the inclusion and focus on the customer specific quality system requirements."

He also pointed out that the International Automotive Oversight Bureau (IAOB), which police (accredits) the certification bodies, has reduced the number of certifiers from over 100 down to approximately 50 worldwide.

Something else brought to light about the very nature of the new standard is the trickledown effect. Within the TS also comes the inherent mandate that 1st tier suppliers are essentially passing along directives from TS 16949 to their sub suppliers.

Automotive Industry

Process approach to quality: TS 16949's second coming serves not only as wall decor but as a complete business analysis

Automotive Industries, June, 2004

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