What Is Automotive IATF 16949?
When you own a company, you need to make sure every aspect and element of it follows specific parameters and meet some requirements that will allow you to stay relevant or start your business in the first place. This is the main reason why owning a company isn’t simple for anyone who decides to start one, and this applies to people who either have enough resources or not to do it. That being said, the industry your company will be part of plays an important role in which elements and parameters you must follow.
In the case of owning or thinking about having an Automotive business, you will have to learn and guide yourself with the right document and normative. This is where Automotive IATF 16949 interests you. After all, it’s a standard that follows the normative or ISO 9001, which focuses on management systems in order to improve the quality of your products or items.
Automotive companies that decide and need to follow this standard are those dedicated to producing or fabricating pieces and products in the area. Before continuing, you must know that each standard provides specific requirements according to the focus of your company—the industry you’re in—and the goal with the ISO. For IATF 16949, it is only for Automotive companies, which means you cannot apply it nor need it if your company is focused on another business item.
What is the main goal of this standard?
Overall, improving the management system quality and structure of the company is the main objective.
However, when you look at the standard in a more specific and less general way, you will notice that there are many “mini-goals” behind the previous one that is as relevant as the main goal. For example, meeting all the customer’s requirements and ensuring it always receives high-quality components and parts is crucial. This leads the company that follows and implements the standard to start enjoying certain benefits like reduction in waste, failures, and costs.
Therefore, we could say—in a much simpler and easier way—that IATF 16949 aims for the improvement of the components and parts you produce by prioritizing and meeting the customers’ requirements. Since this goal doesn’t sound bad for any automotive company but rather the opposite, there’s no business in this industry that decides to ignore its implementation. Implementing and following this standard is indeed part of the requirements that allow your company to operate and continue improving in different areas.
But despite this, you would be surprised by the number of companies in this business item that decide to prioritize other ISO standards and normative.
Our company, ISO Pros, considers that implementing IATF 16949 is crucial for any automotive business.
Therefore, besides being necessary for your company to operate, we also encourage owners and any business in the industry to obtain the certification as soon as possible.
For this, we can help you by supporting, advising, and auditing its implementation until you’re able to get certified.
What is the difference between this ISO/Standard and the rest?
As mentioned before, all ISOs or standards have their own focus and goal. If you are not familiar with these words or the entire topic of ISO standards, it is normal to be confused about how they work or what they are—to begin with. They are normative—or norms—that companies need to follow in order to obtain certification in certain areas and aspects that show their clients and people in general that they meet with all requirements.
Most of the requirements are focused on improving the performance and production of the company to ensure it offers the best to its customers. However, some ISOs aim for the quality of the products and improvement in operations—just like IATF 16949—, while others are focused on customer service and other areas or aspects. Therefore, when you think about another standard in the same Automotive industry, you’re very likely to be aiming for something different with it.
When you decide to implement Automotive IATF 16949, you will be putting effort, time, and resources into your quality management system. Now, to get certified in this ISO you will need to meet all the requirements established in the document. This is where you will need a company or organization that can provide you with the certification.
At ISO Pros, our job is to get you certified once you meet all the requirements of the standard.
However, keep in mind that getting certified isn’t a matter of visiting your company and reviewing if you meet all of them.
Instead, our job is to also provide you with support, advice, and auditing for you to know what changes need to take place and how you can get closer to the certification.
The job and objective of organizations and companies like us are usually misunderstood, and we are aware of why.
After all, most people—probably including you—think we are there to only evaluate their companies and if they are following each step of the ISO.
But we will let you know what you are doing wrong and guide you during the implementation.
Therefore, you will need our qualified, validated, and experienced experts and auditors to help you in the implementation.
Since meeting all the requirements in an ISO isn’t simple nor it takes a couple of days, we have made sure to develop a practical and easy way to speed up the process.
We understand that, so far, it may be a bit confusing, especially if you are not too familiar with the topic.
But rest assured that our experts and auditors won’t be there to tell you what to do without an explanation.
Part of helping you and certifying your company in IATF 16949 is to make sure you are well-informed, studied, and aware of all the aspects and elements that lead to meeting all the requirements.
In simpler words, we support but also teach you how to deal with this standard.