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

Shane Nunley is the Supply Chain Manager at LTI and also became the management representative for quality systems by virtue of TS 16949 decree.

So it began.

"It's difficult but with any new system you're going to find that. I believe it's been very useful in helping companies, like ours, in looking deeper into our processes and approaching all our processes with the standard in mind. It forces your to look at your process.

"The only problem I see with the process itself is that it seems to be written for parts. We make batches of grease so the FEMA and parts per million numbers are harder to apply. Most automotive suppliers are providing a part and what we make goes into those parts which complicated things," says Nunley.

LTI contracted BSI as its certifier and underwent a two day audit because LTI is also design responsible so the design facet of its business was also analyzed.

LTI didn't receive TS 16949, on a technicality. It didn't have the 12 months of data required, but passed on the other segments of the audit. It is currently operating under a letter of compliance which states that it has meet all the standards of TS 16949 with the exception of the required data dating back one year.

A registration audit for LTI is scheduled for September of this year, at which time it expects to receive full accreditation.

The Holistic Approach

As the old standards no longer make as much sense as they once did and the new ones come in--TS 16949 distinguishes itself not only by being a newer standard but one with a different outlook on accreditation. By taking a look at how each process feeds the next in a company it is, as Shane Nunley says, forced to look more deeply at all its own processes.

So not only does the company undergoing a registration audit have the upside of having a shiny new quality standard to show its customers and use to lure new ones--but it also has a vested reason to take a second look at how it has planned its business.

While time and then ever-changing automotive industry will surely give way to new directives and quality control obbligatos, this current incarnation is latent with common sense and like the all important J. D. Power surveys has quality at heart.