The New Era of Standards:
An Auditor’s Point of View
Once you understand ISO/TS 16949:2002, you will find that not only
is it more comprehensive than QS-9000, but it also mirrors how
most companies operate.
By Tony Perkins and Brian Keckler
ith the release of ISO/TS 16949:
W 2002, many organizations are won-
dering what to do next. This isn’t
just an update to QS-9000, as we have
experienced in the past; it is a completely
new standard. It is a standard with only
eight elements and a lot of new terms like
continual, process, realization, focus, compe-
tence and empowerment.
Your first reaction might be one of
frustration: “We were just getting used to
QS-9000 and ISO/TS 16949:2002 doesn’t
look anything like it!” However, rest assured
that once you understand ISO/TS
16949:2002, you will find it more com-
prehensive than QS-9000. You will also
find that it mirrors how most companies
operate.
In addition, significant improvements
in the oversight process will reduce incon-
sistencies between registrars and auditors.
The bottom line is you will have a man-
agement system that will benefit your organ-
ization and focus your company on under-
standing and meeting your customer’s
expectations. This article is an overview on
the differences of core principles in the stan-
dard of the past and the ISO/TS 16949:2002
requirements today.
Know the Rules
To understand the differences between
the standards, start with the rules. One of
the first questions you must ask yourself
24 Exploring ISO/TS 16949:2002
when upgrading from QS-9000 to ISO/TS
16949:2002 is, “Do we meet the applica-
bility for ISO/TS 16949:2002 registration?”
Though always the intent of both standards,
the International Automotive Task Force
(IATF) and the International Automotive
Oversight Bureau (IAOB) have made it
clear that the applicability and scope of
ISO/TS 16949:2002 will be strictly enforced.
The applicability of ISO/TS 16949:2002
is first apparent on the cover of the docu-
ment itself, as it is a Technical Specification
for the automotive industry developed by
the IATF and the Japanese Automobile
Manufactures Association (JAMA). On
page one of the standard, you will see the
scope of the Technical Specification reads,
“Defines the quality management system
requirements for the design and develop-
ment, production and, when relevant, instal-
lation and service of automotive-related
products.” The applicability of a location
must meet the definition of a site, which is
described as a “location at which value-
added manufacturing processes occur.”
Manufacturing is defined as the “process of
making or fabricating production materi-
als, production or service parts, assemblies,
or heat treating, welding, painting, plating
or other finishing services,” i.e., value-added
processes. (Editor’s note: For further clarifi-
cation, please contact your registrar or an IATF
oversight office.)
It is also important to note that the only
exclusion permitted for companies regis-
tered to ISO/TS 16949:2002 is 7.3, Design
and Development. This is only for compa-
nies that are not design responsible. Design
and development companies are described
as “organization[s] with authority to estab-
lish a new, or change an existing, product
specification.” A further clarification is that
most companies have a manufacturing
design process, and this would make them
design responsible.
Making an Upgrade
The process of going from QS-9000 to
ISO/TS 16949:2002 is called an upgrade.
Keep in mind that only 48 of the current
173 QS-9000 registrars have been recog-
nized by the IATF to conduct audits to
ISO/TS 16949:2002. Consequently, your
current QS-9000 registrar may not be able
to upgrade you to ISO/TS 16949:2002.
Traditionally, when “upgrading,” a suppli-
er would conduct a “gap analysis” to deter-
mine the differences between the two
standards by element and determine any
additional requirements that must be added
to the existing system. Alternatively, some
organizations consider re-writing their
system in its entirety to mirror the new stan-
dard. Many of us went through this process
when going from the second edition of
QS-9000 to the third edition. Often times,
your registrar would perform the upgrade
audit at the next regularly scheduled sur-
veillance audit. With the differences
between these two standards, you will need
more than a paper exercise to successfully
upgrade.
When comparing QS-9000 to ISO/TS
16949:2002, you must consider the quali-
ty management systems upon which they
are based. QS-9000 is based on the element
model of ISO 9000:1994, whereas ISO/TS
16949:2002 is based on the process approach
principle of the latest ISO version, ISO
9001:2000. In addition, the eight quality
management principles (see Figure 1) form
the basis for the quality management sys-
tem within the latest ISO 9000 family of
standards, including ISO/TS 16949:2002.
You may feel that you’ve already
embraced these ideas. Well, ISO/TS
16949:2002 has embedded these principles
into the fabric of the quality management
system requirements. Through a close exam-
ination of the standard, you will see many
examples of how these governing princi-
ples have been integrated into the standard,
and subsequently, how they will be better
instilled into the core of your quality man-
agement system by upgrading to the new
standard.
Process Approach
The primary element-by-element
approach of QS-9000 has been replaced by
the process approach. Remember writing a
procedure for each QS-9000 element to
address your compliance for that element?
No more! Such an approach for the ISO/TS
16949:2002 requirements will prove inef-
fective. Who runs their business that way,
anyway? How many times has a manage-
ment representative brushed the dust off
the quality manual during an audit?
ISO/TS 16949:2002 is much more than
a business management system; it is
the way your business operates. That is,
ISO/TS 16949:2002 asks you to identify
the processes (not just production, but sup-
port processes as well) that make up your
quality management system and then asks
you to look at the sequence and interaction
of the identified processes. This is a change
from the checklist method used in the past.
Now, your organization must make an eval-
uation of itself and identify what processes
should be incorporated into its manage-
ment system.
Figure 1. Quality Management Principles
Eight quality management principles
have been identified that can be used by
top management to lead the organization
toward improved performance.
1) Customer focus
Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should
understand current and future customer needs, should meet cus-
tomer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations.
2) Leadership
Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization.
They should create and maintain the internal environment in which
people can become fully involved in achieving the organization's
objectives.
3) Involvement of people
People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full
involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization's
benefit.
4) Process approach
A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and
related resources are managed as a process.
5) System approach to management
Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes
as a system contributes to the organization's effectiveness and
efficiency in achieving its objectives.
6) Continual improvement
Continual improvement of the organization's overall performance
should be a permanent objective of the organization.
7) Factual approach to decision making
Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and
information.
8) Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
An organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually
beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value.
These eight quality management principles form the basis for the
quality management system standards within the ISO 9000 family.
Source: ISO 9000:2000 Quality Management Systems – Fundamentals and Vocabulary
Exploring ISO/TS 16949:2002 25
 A P

E C D Input E E
X Output E
PROCESS E X
T T
E Input A
A P
E
Output A
R PROCESS A C D R
N N
A P
A A
Output D
L C D Input C Input D
PROCESS C PROCESS D L
Output C
C Input B A P A P
PROCESS B C
U Output B U
C D C D
S A P S
T T
C D InputF F Output F
O Input
O
M Internal PROCESS F Internal M
E Customer Customer
Feedback E
R A P
R
C D

Figure 2. Process Elements

The process approach requires clear
understanding of all processes implement-
ed within an organization. This includes
processes for product realization, as well
as the other processes of the quality man-
agement system (QMS). Requirements for
these processes are stated in the following
clauses of ISO/TS 16949:2002:
4) Quality management system
5) Management responsibility
6) Resource management
7) Product realization
8) Measurement, analysis and improve-
ment
A process consists of one or more activ-
ities that transform input into output. Inputs
and outputs may be products that are
tangible and/or intangible. To perform activ-
ities within the process, appropriate resources
should be allocated. A measurement
system can be used to gather information
and data for analyzing process performance
with respect to meeting quality objectives
or product/service input and output char-
acteristics. Processes are managed to under-
stand and meet current and future customer
needs, as well as to meet customer require-
ments while striving to exceed customer
expectations.
This may sound foreign at first, but think
about how your business really functions.
You will be modifying the quality system
requirements around the processes of your
organization. It should be clicking in your
mind by now that process mapping will
be a valuable technique for looking at your
organization’s processes.
Less Paperwork
Did we mention less emphasis on doc-
umentation? Although not a requirement,
most companies will look at the upgrade as
an opportunity to streamline and enhance
current quality system documentation to
be consistent with the process approach.
In addition to a documented quality poli-
cy, documented quality objectives and a
quality manual, the ISO 9001:2000 core
requirements of ISO/TS 16949:2002 only
mandates six specific procedures (see Figure
3); other documents, as determined by the
need of your organization for the effective
control of your processes; and records, which
are considered a special form of documents
(see section 4.2 of ISO/TS 16949:2002).
Keep in mind that ISO/TS 16949:2002 has
documentation requirements, such as those
under sub-elements 7.5.1.2 and 7.5.1.3.
If based on a process approach, much of
your existing documentation will already
be suited to the new standard (perhaps ele-
ments such as purchasing, those listed in
Figure 2 and most work instructions).

26 Exploring ISO/TS 16949:2002

 Focus on the Customer
The new requirement focuses attention
Six Mandatory Procedures beyond documentation and simple com-
pliance to the standard and onto under-
✔ 4.2.3 Control of Documents standing your customer-specific require-
ments, customer satisfaction, efficient
✔ 4.2.4 Control of Records handling of customer-oriented processes,
and the performance of your organization.
✔ 8.2.2 Internal Audit As a registrar, we will be not only looking
at implementation, but also at effectiveness
✔ 8.3 Control of Nonconforming Product by assessing the means by which your organ-
ization measures, analyzes and improves the
✔ 8.5.2 Corrective Action conformity of product, quality system and
effectiveness of your own quality manage-
✔ 8.5.3 Preventive Action ment system (see section 8.1 of ISO/TS
16949:2002).
Figure 3. Core Requirements Mandatory Procedures Besides the monitoring and measure-
ment requirements carried over from
QS-9000 that we were all familiar with
Overall, the opportunity to reassess the dened with committing resources to main- (management review, internal audit,
quality system documentation will be a taining quality system documentation that corrective and preventive actions), new
benefit to small and large businesses alike; often times was voluminous, wordy and analysis and measurement aspects of ISO/TS
no doubt, many organizations were bur- cumbersome. 16949:2002 include:

Exploring ISO/TS 16949:2002 27

 ■ Measurable quality objectives, defined
by top management, at relevant functions
and levels within the organization (5.4)
■ Enhanced requirements for the man-
agement review process (5.6)
■ Customer satisfaction, including cus-
tomer perception as to whether customer
requirements have been met by the organ-
ization, with emphasis on:
– Delivered part quality performance
– Customer disruptions including field
returns
– Delivery schedule performance (includ-
ing incidents of premium freight)
– Customer notifications related to
quality or delivery issues (8.2)
■ Monitoring and measurement of
processes to demonstrate that the quality
management processes and manufacturing
processes are achieving desired results (8.2.3
and 8.2.3.1)
■ Analysis and use of data, including
characteristics, process and product trends,
28 Exploring ISO/TS 16949:2002
progress towards objectives and actions relat-
ed to customer satisfaction (8.4)
Changes in Requirements
Now that we have some of the funda-
mental differences between the two stan-
dards out of the way, let’s look at some of the
changes in the requirements of the ISO/TS
16949:2002 standard. A great deal of infor-
mation is available comparing the elements
of QS-9000 to ISO/TS 16949:2002. In this
article, we will focus on what we think are
four significant changes in the standard that
remain unaddressed to this point.
An increased emphasis on quality plan-
ning is apparent in ISO/TS 16949:2002.
While APQP has always been the guidance
document of note for automotive quality
management system standards in North
America, ISO/TS 16949:2002 allows for
flexibility in the approach to quality plan-
ning activities. This flexibility, however, is
based primarily on the customers’ require-
ments. The fundamental difference between
QS-9000 and ISO/TS 16949:2002 is
the requirement to use design control
disciplines for the design of processes,
irrespective of product design responsibili-
ty. This method provides for improved
quality planning in an effort to deploy
customer-specific requirements throughout
the product realization process.
As for actual manufacturing/production
processes, ISO/TS 16949:2002 lends itself
to capturing the entire product realization
process—from concept to deliverable
goods—much more effectively than with
QS-9000. A typical ISO/TS 16949:2002
audit of manufacturing processes would
begin with a review of the actual plans for
the product to be produced and a compar-
ison of that to tangible results. The most
important audit trails are those that verify
that customer-specific requirements
addressed during quality planning activi-
ties are being monitored, measured and ana-
lyzed with real data.
How will this new standard affect your
staff? To be sure, ISO/TS 16949:2002 goes
much further than QS-9000 ever did
in requiring organizations to specify the
competency required for all positions in the
organization and to measure the incum-
bents’ performance against established goals
and objectives. Customer-specific require-
ments are also high on the list of things that
an organization’s personnel must be aware
of, as well as how non-conforming products
affect the customer. Organizations must
also demonstrate their ability to motivate
personnel to achieve goals and objectives,
thereby improving the quality management
system.
Summing Up
The overall difference between QS-9000
and ISO/TS 16949:2002 is the approach
that organizations must use to demonstrate
compliance to the newer standard.
Organizations must first be able to demon-
strate that they understand and describe
themselves, their customers’ requirements
and all of the processes used to satisfy those
requirements. Furthermore, organizations
must demonstrate that they are continual-
ly seeking to ascertain their customers’ per-
ception of them as an organization and con-
tinually set realistic goals to improve upon
the level of customer satisfaction by using
sound judgment and good business plan-
ning practices. In short, ISO/TS 16949:2002
is a far superior standard to QS-9000, due
to the use of the process model and the abil-
ity to recognize organizations as individual
and unique, not a bunch of clones with ele-
ment-based quality management systems.
Together, all these requirements will ben-
efit your organization in ways not required
by QS-9000. They will provide a basis
throughout your organization and, in par-
ticular, for top management to make informed
decisions based on factual information. This
information can be used to gain a better
understanding of what your customer
requirements are and how you can improve
the quality of product you provide to the final
customer. For those companies that have
experienced a decrease in the initial bene-
fits of QS-9000, this is your opportunity to
tune up your existing management system.
Tony Perkins is the automotive sector man-
ager and director of marketing for QMI. He
has been working in third-party registration and
specializing in automotive for the last six years.
Brian Keckler has worked as an auditor since
1991, auditing in the automotive sector from
the inception of QS-9000 in 1995. He is a
certified QMS lead auditor for QS-9000/TE
Supplement/ISO/TS 16949 (currently 1999).