Quick - Tell me everything you know about TS 16949! LOL

I'm looking for references, links, training material, opinions, comments, anything that could me understand TS better.

I just did a phone interview for a very small automotive parts company, solely certified to TS 16949. It's not far from home and sounds like a great opportunity. I have at least two weeks until my face to face interview, and at least 2 more weeks after that until I (hopefully) start. So it's time to do some learnin'!

I have some exposure to TS. But at that time I had no control over the PPAPs and such, and IMO they were done in a way that simply satisfied customer audits. I would have written and used them differently, but I didn't have the opportunity to try out any of my ideas.

I do have exposure to pharm/medical devices regulations.

Some first things that come to mind, are they required to do such documentation as IQ/OQ/PQ? Software Validations? Are extensive procedures required such as we use in the medical device field? With validations for any small changes?

How can a company utilize PPAPs in a way that really helps, and doesn't just hinder or weigh them down.

What kind of Root Cause analyses to automotive companies tend to like? 8D, 5why, fishbone.... I know some industries tend to like certain tools.

He mentioned customer ratings.... (DPM?? Scale maybe?) Refresh me on what this is. I know on time deliveries matter.

Thanks in advance!

(hehe, I'm a little excited!!)

Do you have a copy of TS 16949 as well as the "Core Tools" books like PPAP, APQP, etc.?

Pharm/medical devices is a much more "strict" (regulated) field, so TS 16949 should be relatively easy to grok.

I don't. I would expect that TS 16949 might be a bit pricey to get on my own before I start, but I'll look into some of those "core tools" books.

Thanks!

Candi1024 said:

...Some first things that come to mind, are they required to do such documentation as IQ/OQ/PQ? Software Validations? Are extensive procedures required such as we use in the medical device field? With validations for any small changes?

How can a company utilize PPAPs in a way that really helps, and doesn't just hinder or weigh them down.

What kind of Root Cause analyses to automotive companies tend to like? 8D, 5why, fishbone.... I know some industries tend to like certain tools.

He mentioned customer ratings.... (DPM?? Scale maybe?) Refresh me on what this is. I know on time deliveries matter.

Click to expand...

IQ/OQ/PQ is essentially part of the APQP and PPAP process.

Software - It depends... There aren't any industry standards so it's looser than medical devices (example: collision avoidance systems).

Root Cause Analysis - 8-D is one "method" typically associated with automotive, but other tools fit into it, such as 5-Whys. Most companies ask for an 8-D (Ford's "Eight Disciplines") when a problem arises.

DPM = See http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=1937 and http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=46725

as to customer ratings - The different car companies have their own "dashboard" where things like on time delivery, nonconformances, etc. are tracked. Many tier 1 companies also do, too.

Are you trying for a job at a tier 1?

I do believe it is a tier 1. I forgot to ask if they were unionized or not. Is there such a thing as a tier 1 that isn't unionized? lol

Thanks for the quick refresher, this is all coming back to me now. Time to do some reading. Once (if) I get the position I could start reading the standard, the books, seeing what they already have, maybe sign-up for some training.

I'm so excited about this job. I would be the sole Quality engineer at a small facility, with no big corporate staring down my back. This would be a first for me in this kind of position.

And, the drive is only 20 minutes, instead of 2.5 hours!

Here's a link to a TS 16949 checklist I uploaded in another thread years ago. It should help you to see what the requirements include. The red sections are the automotive additions over and above the ISO 9001 requirements.

http://elsmar.com/Forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=860