Adopting ISO/TS 16949 and IATF 16949 Standards: An Exploratory and Preliminary Study

ISO/TS 16949 was launched in 1999 by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) with the aim of harmonizing the diverse assessment and certification systems worldwide in the supply chain for the automotive sector. ISO/TS 16949 aimed to eliminate the need of the automotive suppliers for multiple sectoral certifications such as QS9000, VDA6 and EAQF. The fourth version of the standard—published in October 2016—has been renamed IATF 16949. Despite the relative success of this standard for a very relevant industry such as the automotive sector, in the scholarly literature the adoption of the ISO/TS 16949 standard has been under-researched. In order to fill this gap, the aim of this Chapter is to analyze the critical points of working with a management system based on the ISO/TS 16964 or the IATF 16949 from a scholarly perspective, considering the strengths and flaws of the adoption of the standard. For that purpose, a qualitative exploratory study was designed—which is still in progress because of the transitionary nature of the standards. The research focuses on four case studies, one Original Equipment Manufacturer of the automotive sector and one manufacturer from each of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 of the automotive sector. The perspectives of other main stakeholders, such as auditors and consultants directly involved in the implementation and certification of ISO/TS 16949 and IATF 16949 were also considered.