What is Automotive Quality Management System?

The ISO 16949 standard is a Quality Management System designed for suppliers operating in the automotive sector. Within the scope of this standard, conditions for the automotive sector have been defined and technical standards have been established for suppliers.

The ISO 16949 standard is based on the following automotive Quality Management System standards:

• American QS 9000 standard

This standard is designed by the Chrysler, Ford Motor and General Motor automotive companies in America. Its aim is to ensure the standardization of the suppliers operating in this sector. These three major automotive companies started an application called Supplier Quality Requirements Task Force in 1992 in order to evaluate the supplier companies according to their own quality criteria.

The QS 9000 standard was first published in 1994 with a combination of the following standards:

• Chrysler Quality Assurance Manual
• Ford's Q101 Quality System Standard
• General Motors' Goals for Excellence
• Conditions foreseen by some major truck manufacturers

This application is based entirely on the needs of the automotive sector. Over time, the so-called QS 9000 application was shaped and emerged as a version of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard for the automotive industry.

• German VDA 6.1 standard

This standard was designed by major automotive manufacturers in Germany, including Mercedes, AUDI, Wolkwagen, Porsche and BMW together in 1991 and is intended for suppliers in the automotive sector. The VDA 1996 standard, which was revised in 6.1, is the joint design of the 27 large enterprise, which shapes the automotive sector in Germany. This standard is shaped by completing the shortcomings of ISO 9001 Quality Management System for the automotive sector and blending the different national standards applied in the member states of the European Union. It was born in Germany but is an Automotive Quality Management System standard adopted in all European countries. In the revision of 1996, European and American manufacturers came together and completed the missing aspects of VDA 6.1 standard with ISO 16949 standard. After this date, the two darts have replaced each other. The VDA 6.1 standard is based on two pillars. The first key is management responsibility and business strategy. The second key is the needs and requirements of product and management.

• French EAQF 9000 standard

This standard is designed for the needs of the automotive companies in Peugeot, Renault, Citroen and Fiat in 1994.

• Italian AVSQ 9000 standard

This standard is also designed for the needs of companies such as Lancia, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ferrari and Lamborghini in 1994 for the same purposes.

All of these standards are addressed separately to meet the needs and expectations of customers within the global automotive sector and are separate certification systems. In this regard, the ISO 16949 standard was designed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to eliminate and differentiate this differentiation and was published in March of 2002. The same standard has been published by the Turkish Standards Institute in our country as TSE ISO / TS 16949 standards (TSE ISO / TS 16949 Quality management systems - Special requirements for the implementation of ISO 9001: 2008 for automotive manufacturing and related spare parts manufacturers).

The main purpose of these standards is to ensure that the sub-industry companies producing materials to the parent companies provide certain standards. The main purpose of the ISO 16949 standard, which brings all these standards together, is to provide added value to the activities of the automotive companies, ie to create an opportunity for these companies to improve their performance. The main approach of the standard is to provide the conditions that will create customer satisfaction in line with the customer expectations but without going beyond the existing legal regulations.

In this respect, ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System is based on the following principles:

• Being customer oriented
• To ensure the support of senior management and the participation of employees
• To adopt process and system approach
• Acting with data and making decisions based on facts
• Observing the environmental conditions and the recovery opportunities of the products during production activities

Within this framework, the main areas of application of the ISO 16949 standard are:

• Supplier of parts and materials for the automotive industry
• Supplier of assembly services
• Service parts manufacturing companies
• Supplier of painting, coating, heat treatment or other surface treatment
• Other customer-specific suppliers

ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System Which Value Added Businesses?

The main features of the ISO 16949 standard are the high efficiency and stability condition factors, the fact that the enterprises have a well-functioning management system and contribute to the reduction of losses by preventing unnecessary waste.

Consequently, establishing and managing the ISO TS 16949 standard is a strategic decision for businesses. However, the establishment and management of this system is directly affected by the products that the enterprise offers to its customers, the various needs and expectations of the enterprise, its future goals, existing business processes and the organizational structure and size of the enterprise.

There are many benefits to suppliers that can be achieved by complying with the requirements of the ISO 16949 standard. The main values ​​that the supplier companies will add to their businesses are as follows:

• Measure, monitor and analyze customer satisfaction
• Build a structure that focuses mainly on performance
• In general, support and facilitate integration with other management system principles
• To adopt a process-oriented approach in business activities
• To set measurable quality targets at various levels
• To make quality planning that will provide continuous improvement in order to reach quality targets

The benefits are not limited to these. For example,

• Suppliers will also provide the highest input to the major automotive companies in which they do business.
• Its products will gain free movement in foreign countries and will have unhindered access to international markets.
• With the implementation and continuity of this standard, production errors will approach zero and costs will be reduced.
• Businesses will be able to criticize themselves, adopt institutionalization and error-free working principles, identify medium and long term projections and aim to become a real brand.

The following benefits can also be considered for businesses that implement the ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System:

• Documentation of processes and systematic management of activities
• Effective cost management
• Reduction of error rates, return product rates and customer complaints
• Protecting business reputation
• Easy integration with other systems
• Proper management of various risks to the supply chain
• Meeting the basic Quality Management System requirements that customers need
• Improving new product development
• Gaining reputation not only within the country but also globally
• Increasing the competitiveness of the enterprise in the global automotive supply chain market

What is the Purpose of ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System?

Today, companies operating in the automotive sector have to compete with globally recognized companies in the world in terms of product quality, efficiency and competitiveness while aiming for continuous development. One of the tools to achieve this is ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System standard. This standard, which was last revised in 2009, can be applied to suppliers of all sizes in the automotive sub-sector regardless of their field of activity and what they produce. In this respect, not only the goods producing services in the automotive sub-sector can also establish this standard.

In short, all businesses that want to gain respect in the sector, who want to increase their reputation, who want to increase the trust in their products and services, who want to switch to a customer and process-oriented structure, who want to systematize the flow of information within the enterprise, and who want to increase employee motivation and business performance ISO TS 16949 Otomotiv Establish a Quality Management System.

The basic approach of this standard is not to correct mistakes, but to avoid mistakes, in line with the basic understanding of total quality management. The causes of errors that may occur should be investigated in advance and necessary precautions should be taken to prevent them from recurring.

What are the Basic Principles of ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System?

The basic principles of the Automotive Quality Management System are described below:

• Accurate determination of customer needs and expectations

One of the common points of all quality management systems is to accurately identify customer needs and expectations. Although it seems easy, sustainable customer relationship management is not an easy task. There is always someone who is not satisfied with the products or services that they receive in some way. The principle in customer relations is to know the customer and to clarify their expectations. At this point, as well as understanding customer expectations, it is necessary to create models that will carry the result higher and to create a difference in a sense.

In the automotive sector, which is becoming increasingly global, constantly changing in computer and communication technologies and customer needs and expectations are differentiated in parallel, businesses have more difficult days. Customers' expectations and preferences are very effective in creating new car models. Businesses should design and manufacture accordingly.

In today's automotive world, experience, knowledge and business relations have gained more importance along with technological developments besides being customer oriented. Businesses have to get to know their customers and establish dialogue with them. Customer relationship management has gained weight in retaining existing customers.

• Creation of customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction increases as product returns and customer complaints are reduced. Customer complaints are never a matter to be perceived personally. If customer complaints are not met and resolved in a timely and correct manner, not only will a customer be lost, but the company's future plans and targets will suffer. Complaints from customers must be managed in a timely and professional manner in order not to decrease operational efficiency. Contrary to what is said, customers are not always right. Customer satisfaction can be created even when saying no to customers.

As with all quality systems, the way to create customer satisfaction is through the improvement of processes. The more accurate and applicable the business processes are designed, the lower the error rates, the lower the return rates, the lower the costs, the higher the productivity. The natural result of this is increased customer satisfaction.

Businesses use different methods to acquire new customers while retaining existing customers. It is important to listen to customer demands and complaints and to produce timely and acceptable solutions. The situation is not different for the suppliers of the automotive sector. The basic principle of ISO TS 16949 standard is to create customer satisfaction.

• Ensuring employee participation

If the superior method is not owned and the participation of employees cannot be ensured, no quality system can survive. Systems cannot be established and kept alive with descending decisions. Ensuring the participation of employees means that all employees have a good understanding, belief and adoption of the policy, objectives, objectives and principles of the Automotive Quality Management System set by the senior management. Employees should ask questions about how to set up, implement and maintain this system. If the question is not asked, the top management and management representative should be concerned about the future of the system. The same applies if employees do not request feedback. It is necessary to collect only the data to be used, not any data from the employees. It should also be shown that employees are taken into consideration and cared for. Employees should be aware that they are valuable.

• Conducting continuous improvement works

Kaizen in Japanese means continuous improvement involving all employees (kai means change, zen means better). Kaizen is the most fundamental principle of quality management. Kaizen expression has started to be expressed as a mode of activity in order to maintain quality in enterprises. Every day must be better than the previous day for the business to improve.

As in all quality management systems, the ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System application, after the system is installed, if not kept alive the expected benefits can not be obtained. On the one hand, top management review meetings, on the other hand internal audits, on the other hand, the improvement works that the employees will continue with the teams and the disruptions, errors or problems seen during the implementation should be handled, analyzed, improved and applied in a cycle. This cycle also applies to ISO TS 16949.

• Dissemination of quality objectives

ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System identified by the senior management of the quality objective, consistent with the quality policy of the enterprise, the basic factors for the development and growth of the business is a statement and explained numerically. Quality objectives generally cover the whole enterprise and are determined on an annual basis. Whether the targets are achieved is monitored periodically. For example, reducing the amount of waste in production to 1 is a quality objective. However, it is a big deficiency that the quality targets remain on paper, the realizations are not followed and the remaining points are not analyzed. It is meaningful if quality goals are followed, analyzed and tried to be met. For this, quality targets should be expanded, known to all employees and believed in these targets. The senior management must provide the necessary resources to achieve these objectives.

As can be seen, the basic principles of the ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System standard and the basic principles of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard are highly similar.

ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System Benefits

Today, the number of companies operating in the automotive sub-sector in Turkey has exceeded one thousand. However, unfortunately, the number of enterprises within these enterprises which produce in accordance with domestic and foreign standards, even comply with the conditions of the current legal regulations, produce original parts and materials regularly to large automotive companies, enter the foreign markets and have the competitiveness in the international arena is very many. it is low. Most of the facilities are mainly small scale production facilities. Nevertheless, many suppliers operating in this sector have reached a high level of production capacity, product diversity and compliance with standards, to meet the needs of the major automotive companies of our country.

Today, by suppliers, engine and engine parts, brake systems, suspension parts, drivetrain, safety systems, chassis components, electrical equipment and lighting systems, rubber and rubber parts, forging and casting parts, batteries, automobile windows, seats and many more production is carried out. In fact, 70 percent of the foreign sales made by the supplier companies is directed towards the European Union countries.

A significant number of these enterprises have received ISO 9001 Quality Management System Certificate, ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certificate and ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System Certificate which are accepted in international markets. Among these, ISO TS 2009 Certificate, which was revised in 16949 last year, has an important place in terms of showing the importance that the suppliers give to production concept, audit studies, business processes and customer satisfaction issues.

The ISO TS 16949 standard, which is designed to meet the specific needs of the automotive industry sub-industry companies, provides great benefits to the companies. Below are the main benefits of ISO TS 16949:

• The quality of products and services of suppliers is increasing
• In these companies, a customer and process-oriented structure is introduced.
• With the implementation of the standard, the audit functions in the company are strengthened
• Strengthening the customer relations
• Customer complaints decrease and customer satisfaction increases
• Possible production or service errors are prevented before they occur, and production losses are reduced
• A systematic structure is established in the flow of information within the enterprise
• Improvement of the company's new product design efforts
• The company's reputation against its competitors is increasing
• The confidence of the supplier's products in the market increases
• Production costs of the enterprise are reduced, thus increasing productivity
• A common language is created to better understand the quality requirements within the enterprise
• Product and supply chain improvement in the automotive sector in general
• Supply chain is managed more effectively
• Different certification audits are eliminated, thus reducing time, labor and monetary costs in the enterprise
• Provides competitive advantage to the business in foreign markets
• Finally, the motivation and performance of the employees increase

ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System certificate is valid for three years. However, it is necessary to conduct interim audits at least once every year and prove that the system is maintained in operation. Before the validity period of the certificate expires, it may be requested to apply to the certification body to extend the certificate period. In this case, the process in which the first certificate is issued is repeated and the ISO TS 16949 certificate, which is valid for three years, is issued.

Structure of ISO TS 16949 Standard

The structure of the ISO TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System standard is as follows:

• 0. Login
• 1. Definitions
• 2. terminology
• 3. Cited standards
• 4. Quality management system
• 4.1 General conditions

Under this heading, process definitions, interactions of processes with each other, determination of criteria in terms of implementation and supervision, monitoring, measurement and analysis of processes, continuous improvement studies and obligation to comply with customer conditions are explained.

• 4.2 Documentation requirements

Under this heading, the scope of the documentation studies, the processes foreseen in the quality manual and the standard, the control of documents, the control of records and the principles for the storage of records are explained.

• 5. Management responsibility

Under this heading, the top management commitment is explained first. There should be a commitment from top management to implement, develop and improve the effectiveness of the system. Senior management should also be committed to preparing quality policy, setting quality objectives, reviewing management, providing resources and improving process efficiency.

• 5.1 Management's commitment
• 5.1.1 Process efficiency
• 5.2 Customer focus
• 5.3 Quality policy
• 5.4 Planning
• 5.4.1 Quality objectives
• Planning of 5.4.2 Quality Management System
• 5.5 responsibility, authority and communication
• 5.5.1 Responsibility and authority (quality responsibility
• 5.5.2 Management representative (customer representative)
• 5.5.3 Internal communication
• 5.6 Management review
• 5.6.1 General (Quality Management System performance)
• 5.6.2 Review entry
• 5.6.3 Review output
• 6. Resource management

Under this heading, implementation, maintenance and improvement of the system, fulfillment of customer demands and customer satisfaction, ensuring the adequacy of employees, providing the necessary trainings in this direction, establishing the necessary infrastructure for quality production, ensuring the development of an adequate and safe working environment principles are explained.

• 6.1 Providing resources
• 6.2 Human resources
• 6.2.1 General
• 6.2.2 Competence, awareness and training (product design skills, training, on-the-job training, employee motivation and empowerment)
• 6.3 Infrastructure
• 6.3.1 Building, plant and equipment planning
• 6.3.2 Contingency plans
• 6.4 Operating environment
• 6.4.1 Employee safety to ensure product quality
• 6.4.2 Cleaning of facilities
• 7. Product realization

Under this heading, the principles related to the review of customer-related processes, determination of product-specific conditions, production capacity of the enterprise, design and development activities, procurement processes, provision of products or services, and control of monitoring and measuring materials are explained.

• 7.1 Product realization planning
• 7.1.1 Product realization planning
• 7.1.2 Acceptance criteria
• 7.1.3 Privacy
• 7.1.4 Change control
• 7.2 Customer-related processes
• 7.2.1 Determination of product-related conditions (customer-defined special characteristics)
• 7.2.2 Review of product-related terms (review of product-related terms, manufacturing feasibility of the organization)
• 7.2.3 Customer contact
• 7.3 Design development
• 7.3.1 Cross-function approach
• 7.3.2 Design and development inputs (manufacturing process design input, special characteristics)
• 7.3.3 Design and development outputs (manufacturing process design outputs)
• 7.4 Purchasing
• 7.4.1 Procurement process (compliance with regulations, development of supplier quality management system, customer approved resources)
• 7.4.2 Purchase Information
• 7.4.3 Verification of purchased product (input product quality, monitoring suppliers)
• 7.5 Production and service provision
• 7.5.1 Control of production and service provision (control plan, work instructions, verification of work instructions, preventive and predictive maintenance, management of production patterns, production scheduling)
• 7.5.2 Validity of processes for production and service delivery
• 7.5.3 Identification and traceability
• 7.5.4 Customer ownership (customer-owned production equipment)
• 7.5.5 Product storage (storage and inventory)
• 7.6 Monitoring and measuring equipment control
• 7.6.1 Measurement system analysis
• 7.6.2 Calibration / verification records
• 7.6.3 Laboratory conditions (internal laboratory, external laboratory)
• 8. Measurement, analysis and improvement

Under this heading, the principles for monitoring customer satisfaction, internal audit studies, monitoring and measuring processes, monitoring and measuring products and services, control of inappropriate products, data analysis studies and improvement studies are explained.

• 8.1 General
• 8.1.1 Definition of statistical tools
• 8.1.2 Knowledge of basic statistical concepts
• 8.2 Monitoring and measuring
• 8.2.1 Customer satisfaction
• 8.2.2 Internal Audit (Quality Management System Audit, Manufacturing Process Audit, Product Audit, Internal Audit Plans, Internal Auditor Qualification)
• 8.2.3 Monitoring and measurement of processes (monitoring and measurement of manufacturing processes)
• 8.2.4 Product monitoring and measurement (general inspection and function tests, appearance parts)
• 8.3 Control of unsuitable product
• 8.3.1 Control of unsuitable product
• 8.3.2 Control of reworked product
• 8.3.3 Informing the customer
• 8.3.4 Customer waiver
• 8.4 Data analysis
• 8.4.1 Data analysis and usage
• 8.5 Improvement
• 8.5.1 Continuous improvement (continuous improvement of the organization, improvement of the manufacturing process)
• 8.5.2 Corrective action (problem solving, troubleshooting, effect of corrective action, testing / analysis of returned product)
• 8.5.3 Preventive action