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Smithers' Registrar Among Certification Bodies Recognized for ISO/TS 16949

15 February 2000

Smithers' Registrar Among Automotive Certification Bodies Recognized Worldwide for ISO/TS 16949

    AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 15 -- Smithers Quality Assessments Inc., a
leading quality systems registrar, has been recognized worldwide by the
International Automotive Task Force (IATF) to conduct ISO/TS 16949
registration services.
    ISO/TS 16949 was jointly developed by members of the IATF, a worldwide
group of manufacturers and trade associations, formed to achieve global
harmonization in producing quality products to automotive customers.
    "For many automotive suppliers, ISO/TS 16949 may be a desirable
alternative to QS-9000 requirements," said J. Michael Hochschwender, president
of Smithers Quality Assessments.
    Of the 113 certification bodies performing QS-9000 registration services,
the IATF has selected 30 worldwide to conduct ISO/TS 16949 registrations.  Of
these, 10 are headquartered in the U.S. and Smithers Quality Assessments is
included in that group.
    ISO/TS (Technical Specification) 16949 is a document that defines
worldwide quality system requirements for use in the automotive supply chain.
Published and approved last year, it has been submitted to the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) for approval as an international
standard.
    "It (ISO/TS 16949) is the culmination of efforts to achieve global
consistency in quality system requirements," he said, noting that the document
is based on ISO 9001:1994 and QS-9000 (U.S.), AVSQ (Italian), EAQF (French)
and VDA6.1 (German).  "It represents a suggested option for suppliers to
vehicle manufacturers."
    The IATF has also developed a common registration scheme for supplier
third-party registration that includes auditor qualifications, training and
rules for consistent registration.
    IATF members include BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, PSA
Peugeot-Citroen, Renault SA, Volkswagen, and these trade associations:  AIAG
(U.S.), ANFIA (Italy), FIEV (France), SMMT (UK) and VDA (Germany).
    "We at Smithers are proud to be among the certification bodies recognized
worldwide by the IATF to perform ISO/TS 16949 registration services, and to be
one of only 10 headquartered in the United States," Mr. Hochschwender said.
    Smithers Quality Assessments is a wholly owned subsidiary of Smithers
Scientific Services, a leading independent testing and research firm serving
the automotive industry, SQA offers third-party certification for quality and
environmental management systems to manufacturers and service providers
throughout the world.