Guidance on recertification of IATF-16949 (automotive quality) standard

The challenge

Our client supplies products to the automotive industry. To do so, it was certified to the ISO/TS 16949:2009 standard (we also helped with that at the time). In 2016, this standard was replaced for a new standard: IATF 16949:2016. This standard is a substantial "upgrade" from the old one, which demands much more in terms of demonstrability, traceability and continuous improvement. All companies supplying the automotive industry, including our client, must therefore adapt to this.

Our approach

To determine what was needed for the transition from old to new standard, we did an assessment. We compared the current situation with what is required by the new standard. In this we also involved the certifying body (Lloyd's). That helped in particular to test whether we were moving in the right direction with the identification of the most important changes.

Based on the assessment, 39 improvement projects were defined. For each project an A3/ Charter (project definition and planning) was made by the responsible owner with his/her team. We supported the owners in making the charter, which had to fit into the overall planning in terms of content and timeline.

At the same time, we set up the follow-up structure. Weekly reports on the status of each phase relative to the schedule were made by charter. All owners and the management team thus kept track of the critical path so that timely adjustments could be made if risks arose. In execution, we supported the implementation of changes and their securing. This made all supporting documents easily accessible to Lloyd's during the interim and final audit and made it possible to test in practice whether they were actually carried out according to standard.