IATF 16949 Cert Expire- New certification body

[brandieb1230]

Hello,

I am getting direction from our corporate office that we need to switch certification bodies. Our recertification audit is starting 4/5 (5 days- 3 auditors). IATF says the audit has to be completed by 5/3 and I doubt we would be able to get auditors from the company they are pushing with that short of notice.

I want to push back with all information as to why we shouldn't switch but am having a hard time finding the exact response I need in the rules book.

What would worst case scenario be if we didn't have the audit and the cert expired? Would we need to notify our customers and then go through a stage 1 with the company that they selected?

 

[Johnny Quality]

brandie,

Check with your customer requirements. I'm sure all of the IATF OEM's require you to notify them that your certificate has expired and I know my Tier 1 customers require it as well.

If your certificate expires I'm sure you have to start from scratch. We're struggling to get our recertification audit done in time and I'm sure all IATF auditors are going flat out to try to accommodate everyone.

Do you know why you have to switch CB's?

 

[brandieb1230]

brandie,

Check with your customer requirements. I'm sure all of the IATF OEM's require you to notify them that your certificate has expired and I know my Tier 1 customers require it as well.

If your certificate expires I'm sure you have to start from scratch. We're struggling to get our recertification audit done in time and I'm sure all IATF auditors are going flat out to try to accommodate everyone.

Do you know why you have to switch CB's?

Thanks, Johnny! I was thinking the same thing (we already have to do stage 2 because we had remote monitoring last year).

Our corporate office would like to reduce the number of certification bodies used through the company.. The issue is- we JUST signed a new contract with this company last month. This is after multiple conversations with the corporate office 4th quarter last year letting them know who we were switching to. You would think they would have brought this up then..

 

[Johnny Quality]

Transferring to a new CB at this time, in this climate, with these time pressures from the IATF is at best catastrophic misery and at worst unachievable.

 

[John C. Abnet]

Good day @brandieb1230 ;
Don't take our opinion on this. Reach out to the certification body(ies) your corporate office is wanting to change to and tell them the situation. Then ask them to provide you a response with quote, lead times, etc...

I assume this will be enough to convince your corporate offices that the switch can not (I would be SHOCKED if any CB committed to it) take place within the time frame indicated.

Allowing your certification to lapse would likely be catastrophic. In addition to the risk with your customers, your organization would need to start from scratch to become recertified (i.e. CB would require a new evidence submission, stage I and stage II audits, etc..etc...) It would be extremely costly, both monetarily and time, for your organization.

In addition, this forum thread (and the responses you have received) would be good evidentiary material to put forth to your leadership.

I understand corporate initiative to communize CB across the corporation (I assume that is what they are wanting to do?), and I am working with a client to do that as we speak. It can certainly be done, just not within the time frame you are stating.

Hope this helps.
Be well.

 

[brandieb1230]

Thank you everyone! I went to them with the timeline, special status we would be put on, cost associated with cancelling our scheduled audit and sold the idea of staying where we are at for this certification period. We will be required to switch in 3 years (IF they are still on this kick- everything seems to change constantly) but we are going forward with our scheduled audit!

It seems people in the corporate offices don't realize the day to day implications that their ideas create.