The OEMs, Large Tier 1 suppliers, Mid Size Tier 2 and 3 suppliers, Bulk Material Suppliers and tooling and equipment suppliers are represented on the Committee. The committee provides information to automotive trading partners that enables improvement through the supply chain. Quality issues include the standardization of warranty items and developing training programs. QS-9000 is important to bring the entire automotive industry up in capabilities and quality. Greenville Fairplains facility was certified to TS 16949, Clarion Technologies Inc.'s David Tinsley, quality operating systems manager, says certifying to this standard was worth the effort.
Clarion is a relatively new injection molding company.
With the Drake system reasonably mature within QS and Clarion needing a standard across all the company's facilities, TS 16949 was the answer. TS 16949 harmonizes the supplier quality requirements of the U.S. Big Three and French, German and Italian automakers. The Italian AVSQ, French EAQF, and German VDA6.1 standards are incorporated into TS 16949. As of March 2001, there were a global total of 369 certificates issued with a breakdown by country of France with 94 registrations, Germany with 154, UK with 52, Italy with 35 and the United States with 34, according to Bill Koch, AIAG industry expert. The rate of increase of certifications is running at the rate of 15 to 20 percent per month.