T
Tim Geitner
Iso / Ts 16949
Hello:
I work for a manufacturing company that supplies to the automotive companies as a tier 1, 2, and 3 supplier. In the past, we required all of our "key critical" suppliers to be QS-9000 registered, or at least, have an acceptable timeline for registration. Our "key critical" companies include raw materials, outside secondaries, and component suppliers for our assemblies. Basically, we consider any supplier that has something in our parts or touches our parts a "key critical" supplier. Examples of raw material suppliers or suppliers that put something into our parts includes the following: raw material supplies, resin suppliers, etc.. Examples of outside secondary suppliers that touch our parts includes the following: plating, heat treat, inspection, etc..
My question / concern is this:
We are beginning to advise our suppliers that they will need to change to ISO / TS 16949 registration. In turn, some of our suppliers are beginning to contact their registers. We recently have had two of our outside secondary suppliers (a heat treat company and a plater) tell us that their register told them they are not eligible for 16949 registration. I advised them that since they are a supplier to us and we require for them to become certified, then they are eligible. Soon after making this statement to them, I received a phone call from one of their registers who told me he could not audit them to the 16949 standard, but indicated that ISO 9001 (2000) would be applicable. I advised him that we require registration for this supplier to the 16949 standard and he reiterated his stance. He also stated that unless this supplier supplies us with a raw material or a component, they are not eligible for certification to ISO/TS 16949.
I advised him that this is not our understanding and indicated that the ISO 9001 2000 standard lacks many of our requirements, whereas, these requirements are included in the ISO/TS 16949 standard. He indicated that these suppliers would need to be ISO 9001 2000 certified and we can include customer specific requirements. I advised him that this would create extra effort on our part to ensure that all of our suppliers are compliant to our "extra customer requirements".
After speaking with this individual, I sent an email to an AIAG and IATF task force member and received a response that basically states my question will be forwarded to the proper parties, but it does not guarantee a response. It also stated for me to work with our customer or Registrar for clarification of the standards.
I would greatly appreciate others thoughts and clarification. Ultimately, I hope there is documented interpretation that agrees with me as I would be greatly disturbed if a "key critical" supplier to our company is ineligible for registration.
I apologize for this lengthly message, but as you can tell, I am very frustrated.
Thank you very much,
Tim
Hello:
I work for a manufacturing company that supplies to the automotive companies as a tier 1, 2, and 3 supplier. In the past, we required all of our "key critical" suppliers to be QS-9000 registered, or at least, have an acceptable timeline for registration. Our "key critical" companies include raw materials, outside secondaries, and component suppliers for our assemblies. Basically, we consider any supplier that has something in our parts or touches our parts a "key critical" supplier. Examples of raw material suppliers or suppliers that put something into our parts includes the following: raw material supplies, resin suppliers, etc.. Examples of outside secondary suppliers that touch our parts includes the following: plating, heat treat, inspection, etc..
My question / concern is this:
We are beginning to advise our suppliers that they will need to change to ISO / TS 16949 registration. In turn, some of our suppliers are beginning to contact their registers. We recently have had two of our outside secondary suppliers (a heat treat company and a plater) tell us that their register told them they are not eligible for 16949 registration. I advised them that since they are a supplier to us and we require for them to become certified, then they are eligible. Soon after making this statement to them, I received a phone call from one of their registers who told me he could not audit them to the 16949 standard, but indicated that ISO 9001 (2000) would be applicable. I advised him that we require registration for this supplier to the 16949 standard and he reiterated his stance. He also stated that unless this supplier supplies us with a raw material or a component, they are not eligible for certification to ISO/TS 16949.
I advised him that this is not our understanding and indicated that the ISO 9001 2000 standard lacks many of our requirements, whereas, these requirements are included in the ISO/TS 16949 standard. He indicated that these suppliers would need to be ISO 9001 2000 certified and we can include customer specific requirements. I advised him that this would create extra effort on our part to ensure that all of our suppliers are compliant to our "extra customer requirements".
After speaking with this individual, I sent an email to an AIAG and IATF task force member and received a response that basically states my question will be forwarded to the proper parties, but it does not guarantee a response. It also stated for me to work with our customer or Registrar for clarification of the standards.
I would greatly appreciate others thoughts and clarification. Ultimately, I hope there is documented interpretation that agrees with me as I would be greatly disturbed if a "key critical" supplier to our company is ineligible for registration.
I apologize for this lengthly message, but as you can tell, I am very frustrated.
Thank you very much,
Tim
