Adding an additional site to our current TS 16949 registration scope

S

Sharon_Noble

Afternoon covers,
Looking for some help here and you guys have never steered me wrong:D
My company in Canada is currently registered to TS 16949, and 2 years ago we took over another manufacturing site in Mexico. They are certified independantly of us to ISO 9001. My manager has informed me that we are looking to get the Mexico site TS certified in order to meet new customer requirements.
Should they go for independant certification or should I be going to our CB here in Canada to change our current scope to include the Mexico facility as an additional site? Almost all processes are managed here in Canada like Management Review, Purchasing, Sales, Customer Service, Design...
Would there need to be a Stage 1 and 2 audit at the Mexico facility prior to our next TS surveillance audit or would they just be part of our annual audits?
What is the actual difference between a supporting site and an additional manufacturing site?
As you can tell I have a lot of questions and would really like to talk with someone who has already gone through this.
Very much appreciate this site and all the knowledgeable people I have talked to!
Thanks:thanks:
 

howste

Thaumaturge
Trusted Information Resource
If so many of the processes (Management Review, Purchasing, Sales, Customer Service, Design, etc.) are being done at the Canada site, it seems like it would make more sense to include both sites under the same certificate.

I recently audited a company with similar circumstances. They had a corporate/manufacturing site in the USA and a manufacturing site in Mexico. They purchased another manufacturing company in the USA and wanted to add it to the existing TS 16949 certificate. I did a Stage 1 audit at the new manufacturing site, then did the Stage 2 audit of that site at the time of the surveillance audit of the other sites.
 
S

Sharon_Noble

thanks Howste
Just wondering what the Pros and Cons are to having them as an additional site on our cert.
I guess we could have had them added to our ISO 9001 as an additional site too?
 

howste

Thaumaturge
Trusted Information Resource
thanks Howste
Just wondering what the Pros and Cons are to having them as an additional site on our cert.
I guess we could have had them added to our ISO 9001 as an additional site too?
If there are separate certificates, the audit timing or may not be synchronized for the two sites. The audit team also may or may not be the same. If they are different audit teams, the team auditing the site in Mexico is still required to verify interactions with the site in Canada as a support site. This would probably be done by the Mexico audit team by verifying the records of the Canada site audit and following up any audit trails.

If there is one corporate certificate, there is an allowed 20% reduction in audit days. The audit team would need to be the same at both sites for the 3-year certification cycle. If a translator is required for parts of the audit in Mexico (if the current auditor/team in Canada doesn't speak Spanish), an addition of 20% audit time would be necessary for only the times during the audit when the translator was needed.

One concern that I often hear about a corporate certificate is that if one site has a problem, then all sites will have their certificate suspended or withdrawn. Actually the TS rules say that a certificate suspension or withdrawal only applies to the affected site(s).

The Mexico site could be added to the ISO 9001 cert also.
 
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S

Sharon_Noble

So if our Mexico facility does not pass the Stage 1 audit then our certification is not in jeopardy?
 
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