IATF 16949:2016 is a technical specification aimed at the development of a quality management system which provides for continual improvement, emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste in the automotive industry supply chain and assembly process. It is based on the ISO 9001 standard and the first edition was published in June 1999 as ISO/TS 16949:1999.^[1] IATF 16949:2016 replaced ISO/TS 16949 in October 2016.^[2][3]

The standard was prepared by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) and the "Technical Committee" of ISO. It harmonises the country-specific regulations of quality management systems.^[4]

About 30 percent of the more than 100 existing motorcar manufacturers follow the requirements of the norm but especially the large Asian manufacturers have differentiated and have their own requirements for the quality management systems of their corporate group and their suppliers.^{[citation needed]}

IATF 16949 applies to the design/development, production and, when relevant, installation and servicing of automotive-related products.

The requirements are intended to be applied throughout the supply chain. For the first time vehicle assembly plants will be encouraged to seek IATF 16949 [certification].

The Standard is based on ISO 9001:2015 standard with additional common automotive industry requirements. The requirements are encompassed in 5 clauses, namely:

• Quality Management System,
• Management Responsibility,
• Resource Management,
• Product Realization,
• Measurement, Analysis & Improvement.

Exclusion to the requirements is only limited to the product design & development processes.

Organizations that spearheading for certification must be parts of the automotive supply chain that provides value added activities or services to their customers. The term "automotive" include cars, buses, trucks, motorbikes but exclude special purpose vehicle such as tractors for agricultural purposes. Producers of automotive after-market products or providers of support services such as warehousing, transportation, calibration and others are not eligible for certification. Scope of certification includes site where value added activities are performed as well as remote locations if any where support services are provided.

The ISO/TS 16949 Standard was an international effort to develop a common Quality Management System for automotive industry. It was initially presented as an alternative to those organizations that were certified to US9000, VDA 6.1, AVSQ and EAQF. However, with the retirement of QS 9000, AVSQ and EQFQ in recent year, more and more companies have chosen to be certified with ISO/TS 16949.

ISO/TS 16949 relevant to your organization?

It is part of the common procurement requirement among the IATF members that all their suppliers, especially tier-1 suppliers shall be certified to ISO/TS 16949. JAMA strongly encourages their members' suppliers to be certified to the ISO/TS 16949. In recent years, more are more OEMs (besides IATF and JAMA members) are encouraging or has made it part of the procurement requirements that require their suppliers to be 3rd party certified to ISO/TS 16949, one of those examples is Proton in Malaysia.

Benefits of ISO / TS 16949

"The Improvement Standard" With ISO 9001:2000 as the basic quality management system, organizations achieving certification to ISO/TS 16949 receive dual benefits. First, they benefit from the process approach, with emphasis on continuous improvement and communication. This means that the organization knows, understands, and practices a philosophy that is committed to quality in all actions, never settles for "good enough" and understands the dynamics and interactions that exist between the various processes that make up the quality management system. Secondly, the added requirements of ISO/TS 16949, although prescriptive in nature, are based on proven techniques that further enhance an organization's ability to achieve high quality levels in the challenging automotive sector. Smithers Quality Assessments is one of few registrars approved by the IATF to certify to this standard.

 

ISO / TS 16949 certification offers the following benefits:

• Improved product and process quality and reliability.
• Improved on-time delivery.
• Greater emphasis on supplier quality improvement efforts.
• ISO/TS 16949 satisfies automotive mandates of IATF members on a global basis, when complemented by fulfillment of customer-specific requirements
• Eliminates the need for multiple third-party registrations on a geographic basis
• Enables firms to upgrade from QS-9000, VDA 6.1, etc. during regularly scheduled surveillance audits, provided the registrar is IATF-approved for ISO/TS 16949.
• Promises more consistent auditing performance. Auditors of recognized ISO/TS 16949 registrars must undergo extensive training, testing and re-qualification to meet rigorous qualification requirements.

IATF has set up an IATF Global Database Customer Portal that allows anyone to check the validity of the certification certificates. This provides a simple mean for any organization to verify its supplier ISO/TS 16949 certification status. The benefits of being certified to ISO/TS 16949 Standard includes but not limited to:

• Quality improvement in product & process,
• Additional confidence to the customers,
• Common approach for managing Quality Management System,
• Reassignment of resources to quality improvement and
• Reduction in the multiple 3rd party registrations.