TS 16949 - Separate Site Registration

[Sandra Shepard]

Separate Site Registration

I have read many ISO threads but can't find exactly what I am looking for. We are a QS-9000 company (preparing for ISO/TS 16949) and have plants in the US and Mexico. We are getting ready to move a big chunk of manufacturing to China. The chunk that is being moved will not supply automotive, so we have considered ISO registration only for that "site", possibly using another registrar.

My questions: Is this feasible? Will this site have to meet ISO requirements for each "support" process or can the processes audited for our ISO/TS cert (when we get it) in Corporate Headquarters (Design/Strategic Planning/Marketing/Sales/Purchasing/Cust. Sat/etc) serve that purpose?

For example, will this "site" require its own Quality Manual, Quality Documentation, etc?

As you can tell, guidance is needed. I would like to get all the facts and all possibilities resolved before I contact my registrar.

 

[tomvehoski]

I notice this is in the 14001 forum, but I think you are looking for guidance on 9001 & 16949.

If the China site will not supply automotive customers, it is not possible for it to be ISO/TS 16949 certified alone, but could possibly be a support site. If it is not interfacing with your automotive operations it probably will not be considered a support site. It sounds like it is mainly manufacturing, so most likely it is not eligible for 16949.

It is possible that it could run under your 16949 system at the other sites. There are many requirements that are not applicable and may not be possible, so you will need to decide if it is best to try to use the same system, modify it to better fit the facility, or create a new one.

My initial thought would be to get a stand alone ISO 9001 registration for this site. For consistency I would try to stay with the same registrar. If 16949 is not required, why bother with the extra cost and headaches?

 

[howste]

My questions: Is this feasible? Will this site have to meet ISO requirements for each "support" process or can the processes audited for our ISO/TS cert (when we get it) in Corporate Headquarters (Design/Strategic Planning/Marketing/Sales/Purchasing/Cust. Sat/etc) serve that purpose?

For example, will this "site" require its own Quality Manual, Quality Documentation, etc?

As you can tell, guidance is needed. I would like to get all the facts and all possibilities resolved before I contact my registrar.

It seems like either way is possible. Like Tom said, if you want to include it in a corporate registration you can, but it will probably easier to just go with separate registrations. If you do separate registrations, you will probably need a separate quality manual because the TS requirements won't apply across the board. Could any support processes that your corporate office does could be considered outsourced processes?