AIAG release of TR 16949

[Roger Eastin]

Just a note: I tried to purchase TR16949 from AIAG, but I was told that it would not be available until the 4th quarter of this year.

I got a copy of ISO/TS16949 from the British Standards Institute. Their website is at http:\\www.bsi.org.uk\. The document is UK£50 for 'subscribers', or UK£100 for non-subscribers.
I saw 2003 as a possible date for implementing it as an International Standard.
If nothing else, it's written more clearly than the QS9000 documents!

That's a REAL ripoff cost wise. 100 pounds is like $200 isn't it?

[Roger Eastin]

Yeah, Lassitude, you're right as far as the price goes from BSI. The cost from AIAG is 10 or 15 bucks! My question, though, is even if you get the standard, what can you do with it? There are not auditor qualifications as far as I know, nor items detailed such as audit frequency, customer specific areas,etc. It's funny - I would never have thought to check with BSI because I am so used to the AIAG being the clearing house for QS-style automotive standards (in the US anyway).

With respect to what you can do with the standard, the foreword states that "...a common global certification scheme has been developed and must be followed. Customer-specific requirements supplemental to this Technical Specification shall be incuded in audit in order obtain customer recognition of such certification."
Details of the certification procedure can be gained from organisations supporting the IATF.
Guess what?
This points you straight back to the AIAG.

Are any of the big 3 accepting certification to TR16949? I thought I saw something from Ford saying TR16949 was acceptable as a Quality System standard, and they would recognize certification to the standard, but I can't seem to recall or locate the source.

[Roger Eastin]

I would be surprised if any of the Big 3 accepted registrations at this time. In fact, I am not sure how any auditor could register anyone at this point, because, as far as I know anyway, there are not auditor requirements published yet, nor are the customer requirements of TR16949 published yet. It seems as if we have heard more from the European part of the world with respect to registration. Anyone else?

Just purchased "TS16949" from ASQ. I understand that this is it, the final release that you can be registerd to. Cost was 24.00
Dean Hill