New Facility - 6 to 12 Months Before We're Allowed to Register?

My company is planning the launching of a new manufacturing facility in the US. Accordingly, we are including the planning of Certification.

Can someone tell/explain me if some requirements in the TS16949 Standards imply that the facility must have been running for some period like 6 or 12 months prior to being eligible for certification ?

[This message has been edited by PGeorges (edited 12 September 2000).]

[Roger Eastin]

I don't think there is a requirement like that in the standard. I guess it's really a matter of how quickly you can implement your ISO-based system in your new plant. 6-12 months after completion sounds pretty fast, but then, if the facility is small or you have some "modular" system's approach...

[Marc]

No such requirement that I am aware of.

Has anyone had to go through this kind of situation already?

(I imagine that as TS16949 is recent, other's esperience on either TS or QS9000 would be interesting)

[Roger Eastin]

Although TS is new, QS9K or ISO9K is not, so there should be plenty of good experience here. Although some "packaged" approaches feature implementation times of 60-90 days, I think the general timeframe is more like 9-12 months. However, I don't know how many of those experiences are from a start-up perspective. My experience with implementing these systems (in a start-up phase) is in the 9-12 month range. Anyone else?

[Rick Goodson]

From a slightly different point of view, I believe it will depend on the registrar's 'system' requirements. My experience has been that they expect a 4 to 6 month period of time that the system has been operating. Auditors often want to know the 'turn on' date for the system so they know how far back they can audit. Other thoughts?

Originally posted by Roger Eastin:
Although some "packaged" approaches feature implementation times of 60-90 days, I think the general timeframe is more like 9-12 months.

That's very interesting. Would you know where to get such "packaged" approach. This approch would require extra care for time required by registrar for running conditions as described by Rick Goodson. This last item would mean that this time is registrar dependent, am I right ?

Originally posted by PGeorges:

> Originally posted by Roger Eastin:
>
> Although some "packaged" approaches feature implementation times of
> 60-90 days, I think the general timeframe is more like 9-12 months.

That's very interesting. Would you know where to get such "packaged" approach. This approch would require extra care for time required by registrar for running conditions as described by Rick Goodson. This last item would mean that this time is registrar dependent, am I right ?

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Best Regards,

Jim
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Edited to correct html formatting.

[This message has been edited by Marc Smith (edited 14 September 2000).]