IATF 16949:2016 is an international standard for companies supplying in automobile industry, which is designed for transition from separate national standards to unified international requirements.
ISO/TS 16949 standard was developed by International Automotive Task Force (IATF), which currently includes BMW, Daimler Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Renault SA, Volkswagen.
The given standard defines requirements to quality management system at design, development and manufacture of products related to automobile industry. The main goal of the standard is satisfaction of customers through fulfillment of their requirements. The main peculiarity of the standard is that it promotes adoption of process approach at development, realization and efficiency increase of quality management systems. The gist of process approach is that it enables definition and management of many interrelated processes. Benefit of the approach is continuous control over connections between separate processes, their combinations and interaction.
Besides, having international IATF 16949 certificate enables participation in tenders for production of components for foreign automobile manufacturers, performance of supplier evaluations and complex quality audits.