ISO Certification

What Coverking’s ISO/TS 16949 Means to You

ISO has more than 17,500 International Standards and other types of normative documents in its current portfolio: standards for traditional activities, such as agriculture and construction to medical devices, information and communication technologies to standards for good management practice and services. ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment) are generic management system standards, meaning the same standard can be applied to any organization—large or small—whatever its product or service, in any sector of activity, whether it is a business enterprise, public administration or government department.

ISO/TS 16949, however, is specific to the automotive industry and is a category listed under the ISO 9001.

We want our consumers to know Coverking was the first auto accessory company to voluntarily commit to ISO Standards and continually works to keep in line with quality assurance policies, upgrading when necessary.

ISO/TS 16949, in conjunction with ISO 9001, defines the quality management system requirements for the design and development, production and, when relevant, installation and service of automotive-related products.

ISO/TS 16949 is applicable to sites of the organization where customer-specified parts, for production and/or service, are manufactured.

Supporting functions, whether on-site or remote (such as design centers, corporate headquarters and distribution centers), form part of the site audit as they support the site, but cannot obtain stand-alone certification to ISO/TS 16949.

ISO/TS 16949 can be applied throughout the automotive supply chain.

About ISO

The International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, is the world’s largest network of the national standards institutes in 162 countries, with its Central Secretariat coordinating the system from Geneva, Switzerland. ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. And because quality standards are so varied globally, ISO enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society in each country the Organization represents. Which is why its founders chose the acronym “ISO,” derived from the Greek word isos, which means equal.

Why You Should Know About ISO

Consumers care when products turn out to be of poor quality, do not fit, are incompatible with equipment we own, are unreliable—or worse yet!—dangerous. Simply put, it’s only when standards are absent that we notice.

You see, standards ensure desirable characteristics of products and services such as quality, environmental friendliness, safety, reliability and efficiency. And the organization responsible for many thousands of the standards which benefit the world is ISO. Standards make an enormous and positive contribution to most aspects of our lives, including:

• Make the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner;
• Provide governments with a technical base for health, safety and environmental legislation as well as conformity assessment;
• Share technological advances and good management practice;
• Safeguard consumers, and users in general, of products and services.

When technologies and services conform to International Standards, the consumer is then assured of a product’s quality, safety and reliability and benefit from the effects of competition among suppliers. And more importantly, International Standards on air, water and soil quality, emissions of gases and radiation and environmental aspects of products contributes to preserving the environment and, ultimately, the planet we inhabit.

Voluntary

ISO standards are voluntary. As a non-governmental organization, ISO has no legal authority to enforce the implementation of its standards. ISO does not regulate or legislate but does develop standards for which there is a market requirement. The actual ISO standards are based on international consensus among the experts in each particular field who are asking for the requirements. In order to remain state-of-the-art, the ISO designs its criteria to be globally relevant and requires a periodic review at least every five years to decide whether the standards should be maintained, updated or withdrawn.