What is IATF 16949
The IATF 16949 standard provides guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products consistently meet customer requirements and that quality and customer satisfaction are consistently improved. Requirements for certification to IATF 16949 are defined in the 2016 Revision 5 of the rules for achieving and maintaining IATF recognition.
The IATF 16949 standard is a supplemental standard and is used in conjunction with the ISO standards:
- IATF 16949 – establishes the Automotive supplemental requirements of a quality management system
- ISO 9001 – defines the base requirements of a quality management system
- ISO 9000 – covers the basic concepts and language
- ISO 9004 – focuses on how to make a quality management system more efficient and effective
- ISO 19011 – provides guidance on internal (1st party) and external (2nd party) audits of quality management systems
- ISO 31000 – outlines risk management principles and guidelines
IATF 16949 defines the criteria for an automotive-based QMS with the goal to become 3rd party registered. It can be used by any supplier, large or small, and should be applied throughout the automotive supply chain. In fact, there over 65,000 suppliers worldwide which are currently certified to ISO/TS 16949. All requirements of IATF 16949 are applicable unless suppliers do not provide product design related functions. Requirements are generic and are intended to be applicable to any supplier providing design and development, production and, when relevant, assembly, installation and services of automotive related products, including products with embedded software. The IATF 16949 standard is applicable to sites of the organization where manufacturing of customer-specified production parts, service parts, and/or accessory parts occur.
The standard is based on seven Quality Management Principles, including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement.
These Quality Management Principles are defined as follows:
- Customer focus
- Leadership
- Engagement of people
- Process approach
- Improvement
- Evidence-based decision making
- Relationship management