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On 14th of October, it will be World Standards Day once again. In an age where the world at times seems to be getting more divided, it is worth celebrating the success and importance of global standardization.

The International Organization for standardization (ISO) was founded by a group of delegates from 25 countries in 1947, after World War II. It was founded with a goal of ensuring that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. ISO was far from being the first set of industry standards, but it was the first time that a large group of countries would unify their industry standards into one. Since its formation, it has expanded to including 164 nations, 779 technical committees, and has published more than 20,000 international standards for technology and manufacturing.

MTEE achieved its first ISO certification – ISO 9001 – in 1997, which specifies requirements for quality management systems. ISO 9001 has become the accepted standard for manufacturers to prove their ability to consistently produce products and services that live up to requirement.

However, as a supplier to the automotive industry, MTEE also has to comply with the specific requirements set for this industry. The International Automotive Task Force (IATF) developed its first technical specification – ISO/TS 16949 – in 1999 in conjunction with ISO. This laid down variety of customer-specific standards to govern a supplier’s quality management practices. In October 2016, the IATF 16949 specification was separated from the ISO, but still works as a supplement to ISO 9001. This is an advantage for the IATF as it allows them to control regulations for the automotive suppliers more firmly, and enables the IATF to revise the standards more regularly.

In October of that same year, the quality department at MTEE immediately began making preparations to translate the new IATF into practice within the organization. With the participation of the whole company, MTEE successfully achieved the new IATF certification in May 2018. As a tier 1 supplier, we are proud to be certified in delivering the highest quality.

Some of the areas that the IATF puts more emphasis on compared to ISO 9001, are:

  • Clarifying risks and opportunities
  • Leadership
  • Employee engagement

Clarifying risks and opportunities

The IATF puts a lot more focus on risk-based thinking. Risk is mentioned more than 50 times in the IATF specification document, indicating its increased importance. As examples, the automotive supplier should identify issues that could be a risk or an opportunity to the business. All parties involved should be identified and a list of KPIs should be set up to continuously monitor all risks and opportunities.

 

Leadership

Leadership is at the core of the IATF. In the past, top management could allocate a lot of tasks to the quality department, but now top management is expected to participate in every aspect of quality management. They are now the process owners and are accountable for the success of the quality management system. In general, the IATF requires a lot more processes to be described and for the process holders to make and keep more documentation.

 

Employee engagement

The IATF puts greater focus on employee engagement and awareness. All employees should learn about the quality management process system, whether they are directly involved with it or not. There is also an increased focus on internal auditing. At MTEE, we make use of the annual Quality Day in November to put a spotlight on quality. In the weeks ahead, the quality department will be doing its best to make all employees more aware of our quality management systems and how they work. On the day itself, different quality awards are given to employees who have shown an exceptional degree of effort to improve quality within the company. Furthermore, all employees have an overview of the company quality policy at hand, so that they are always reminded about what we are working to achieve.

Quality Day at MTEE

The advantages of global standardization in the automotive industry where vehicle safety is of key importance, or in any industry for that matter, are clear to see. An organization with a strong quality management policy not only leads to better quality and safer products, but also provides cost benefits by consistently improving systems and processes. However, quality management does not end with the achievement of a certification. It is continuously revised and improved along with the introduction of new technologies and other changes that make an impact on the industry. Let’s strive to achieve even higher standards in the future. Let’s move the world forward.

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