Customer Requires QS-9000 - We think ISO 9001 is enough - Comments?

QS vs ISO

Help! We have a customer that is requiring QS certification. We think that ISO9k2k is sufficient. My company does repair work on a part supplied by this customer, per there instructions. I may be off base, but thought that QS was geared to the manufacturing of auto parts by Tier 1 suppliers. How far down the food chain can QS reach? Do we have a valid argument?

"Help! We have a customer that is requiring QS certification. We think that ISO9k2k is sufficient."

Your customer is stating their requirements. Your choice is to accept or not accept.
If you choose to accept, IMO the argument should be what to certify to, ISO/TS 16949 or QS9000. If you already have 9k2k then the TS is almost a given.
If your customer is a tier I supplier they will soon be required to certify to ISO/TS 16949, which in turn requires their suppliers to be 9k2k minimum with development to the ISO/TS.

"I may be off base, but thought that QS was geared to the manufacturing of auto parts by Tier 1 suppliers."
IMO It is, and the flow down is endless.

"Do we have a valid argument?"
IMO, the argument is almost never valid when it comes to not meeting customer requirements.

The B3 has stated that all suppliers (below Tier 1) will be 9k2k as a minimum. In that sense you meet the objective. Now, are they asking you to certify or be in compliance? If they are asking you to be certified tell them that you don't see where you fit in under the applicability statement in QS found on page 2. "QS-9000 applies to auppliers of . . . . . a) production materials, b) production or service parts, or c) heat treating, painting, plating or other finishing services directly to OEM customers." At the very least they are required to assist you in meeting the requirements under "Supplier Development". Too many Tier 1's forget the "Applicabity" section of the standard and not all suppliers can meet the requirements (PPAP, run at rate, etc.). They may have sent out a blanket letter with this requirement, and it may have been sent by the Purchasing people who has not looked at the manual. They were just doing what the QS person told them to do.

From what you have posted your company doesn't meet the requirements under applicability so you can't meet the requirements to be certified.

Register with a dead requirement?

DiamlerChrysler ahs already cut the deadline for TS 16949. At the very longest QS will be around for another 4 years. It may be gone in two! Why would your customer want you to go through the expense of registering to a dead set of requirements? But as Sam said:

Your customer is stating their requirements. Your choice is to accept or not accept

Click to expand...

You might be able to convince your customer that 9K2K is sufficient. If they persist, you have a decision to make.