Brief Evaluation of the International Automotive Task Force

Global Oversight and its Core Functionalities Summary The International Automotive Task Force (IATF) was initiated in order to provide improved quality standards of automotives to customers across the globe. The organization consists of some of the world’s largest and well-renowned automobile manufacturers in the world. The purpose of this assignment is to provide a better understanding of the IATF and how the IATF plays a major role in the automotive industries today. Introduction The International Automotive Task Force (IATF) was formed in 1997.

Its initial members were the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) from the United States, the Association of the German Automotive Industry (VDA) representing automotive manufacturers from Germany, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) from the United Kingdom, the Comite des Constructeurs Francais d’Automobiles (CCFA) from France and Associazione Nazionale Fra Industrie Automobilistiche representing Italian automotive manufacturers. The IATF with cooperation with the ISO Technical Committee TC 176, developed the first internationally harmonized standard for automotive suppliers quality systems – the ISO/TS 16949.

The ISO/TS 16949 was released in the year 1999 (Heinloth, Stefan, 2000). Formation During the early 90’s, the automotive manufacturers around the world, created their own standards and set of requirements for their suppliers to improve supplier quality and provide better products. The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) in the United States released their own set of requirements for their supplier’s quality systems, called the QS-9000. Automotive manufacturers from Europe developed similar standards for their supplier’s quality systems too such as the VDA 6. released by the Association of the German Automotive Industry (VAD). Similar standards were also released by the British, French and Italian automotive industry associations (Heinloth, Stefan, 2000). The Automotive industry has since become a large and dynamic market globally. The number of competitors (including the rise of the automotive manufacturers from Japan and South Korea) and the mergers between automotive manufacturers had made it difficult for suppliers. These international developments would require many suppliers need multiple registrations to the various automotive standards created by the different associations.

Hence, in the late 1990’s, the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) was formed. ISO/TS 16949 The ISO/TS 16949 was prepared by the IATF with close cooperation from the ISO Technical Committee TC 176. It was created to harmonize the country-specific regulations of the supplier’s quality systems. It is based on the ISO 9001 which specifies the basic requirements for a quality management system (QMS) that an organization must be able to fulfill in order to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products and/or services that enhance customer satisfaction and also meet the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements