By Russ Bloom
The release of ISO/TS 16949:2002 brought sweeping changes to the way organizations must implement, maintain and continually improve their quality management systems. Gone is the day when the primary emphasis was, “Say what you do and do what you say.” Instead, the new emphasis is on organizations managing a defined series of processes and sub-processes effectively and efficiently, so that customer satisfaction is ensured. This revised standard is business focused and offers organizations more flexibility in implementation.
To automotive suppliers wrestling with the revised requirements of ISO/TS 16949:2002, it may appear that customer specific requirements have gone away, because they are not listed as specific elements or clauses in the standard as they were in QS-9000. Do not be deceived; customer specific requirements are there in full force.
ISO/TS 16949:2002 states, “The goal of this Technical Specification is the development of a quality management system that provides for continual improvement, emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain. This Technical Specification, coupled with applicable customer-specific requirements, defines the fundamental quality management system requirements for those subscribing to this document.”
A practical way to view the requirements listed in the ISO/TS 16949:2002 specification is to picture them as providing the framework for building your quality management system. This framework provides the guidelines and structure for creating, implementing, managing and improving the quality management system, but it is not the whole system. It is a generic system that when properly implemented can enable an organization to meet defined customer requirements.
All subscribers to ISO/TS 16949:2002, OEMs and others, realize that the customer specific requirements provide the opportunity to see their supplier base develop a quality management system that will deliver
In discussing the importance of customer specific requirements, Ford Motor Company’s Russ Hopkins aid, “Directly competitive OEMs do not run their businesses identically; they have developed their own competitive advantages. The standards provide as much common ground as possible, where no competitive advantage may be held. The most common source of poor quality is poorly or insufficiently defined customer requirements. Customer specifics reduce that lack of definition.”
Where to Find Customer Specifics
If customer-specific requirements are so critical, why are they not listed in the ISO/TS 16949:2002 document itself, as they were in QS-9000? The answer is simple. While QS-9000 was primarily a North American automotive standard, ISO/TS 16949:2002 is a worldwide automotive specification. Three OEMs were signatories in QS-9000: Ford Motor Company, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler; the ISO/TS 16949 has eight OEMs as signatories. All have different specific requirements.
General Motors’ Joe Bransky put it this way: “Customer-specific requirements are those that are agreed to between the supplier and the customer.” Bransky said that the customer-specific requirements typically fall into the following categories:
- Part-specific requirements (dimensions, materials, performance characteristics, etc.);
- Delivery requirements;
- Boiler-plate requirements (typically found in the purchase order);
- General requirements (PPAP, APQP, etc.); and
- Process requirements (example: heat treat).
Bransky pointed out that with eight OEMs participating in ISO/TS 16949: 2002—each having different customerspecific requirements-—it was necessary to keep them separate from the specification document. Customer-specific requirements are under constant revision, and document control would have been quite a challenge should they have been included in the specification itself. He was emphatic that these customer-specific requirements be considered an integral part of an organization’s quality management system.
Just finding these customer-specific requirements can present a challenge. A short survey of current automotive suppliers found that a significant number did not know where to go for the latest applicable customer-specific requirements. To a registrar, let alone the OEMs, this would represent a serious problem. So what are the customer-specific requirements, and where can you find them? A good place to start is to log on to the International Automotive Oversight Bureau’s (IAOB) Web site, www.iaob.org, and select OEM Customer-Specific Requirements. You will find a link to the customer-specific requirements for General Motors, Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler.
No matter which method the organization uses to find the appropriate customer specific requirements, effective implementation is not an optional activity. ISO/TS 16949:2002 requires that customer specific requirements be integrated into the quality management system. These requirements must be implemented and maintained by using the process management approach.
One of the requirements that organizations must meet to demonstrate readiness for the ISO/TS 16949:2002 audits is to submit specific information to the registrar well in advance of any certification audit. Part of that submission needs to include a detailed account of the customer-specific requirements applicable to that organization, including internal document references. This information, along with other data, is used to plan the audit using a process audit approach.
The IAOB is one of the oversight offices charged with overseeing the implementation of ISO/TS 16949:2002, including auditing and approving ISO/TS 16949:2002 registrars. Harold Hodder, executive director of IAOB, said, “Customer-specific requirements are requirements that are outside the TS document. Had all the subscribers to the document been able to agree on these unique, very specific, company-specific requirements, then those requirements would have been written as part of the text inside ISO/TS 16949:2002. I cannot stress enough, the importance of the audit team receiving details of customer-specific requirements well in advance of any audit (initial, surveillance or renewal) and using them as a basis for the audit planning process. Failure to do so is viewed as an audit failure in any witness audit.”
With the new process management and process auditing approach prescribed by ISO/TS 16949:2002, organizations will be expected to incorporate customer specific requirements into the applicable support processes, as well as the primary processes. The internal audit process should consider customer-specific requirements in the process audit planning, looking for evidence of implementation, effectiveness and efficiency. Management review should include the results of these audits, as well as other data to determine if customer specific requirements are adequately addressed and effectively implemented.
The worldwide automotive industry is banking heavily on ISO/TS 16949:2002 to help the industry achieve customer satisfaction. Harmonizing the quality requirements of eight OEMs is intended to eliminate redundant audits and improve productivity, quality and delivery in the supply chain. ISO/TS 16949:2002 provides a solid methodology to implement customer specific requirements.
Russ Bloom is manager, business development, for Smithers Quality Assessments. Bloom is an automotive lead auditor and has conducted over 100 certification audits. He has worked in the quality management field for the last 25 years as quality manager in the appliances, foundry, metal stamping and plastic industries
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