Automotive Restart: The Road To Recovery

The automotive industry is ready to restart on the road to recovery. During this challenging recovery period, simpleQuE shares some thoughts and considerations concerning the restart of the automotive industry.  GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler may be ready to restart U.S. production on May 18. Toyota is targeting the week of May 11.  VW is weighing the readiness of their supplier base and hasn’t set a date. Hyundai has the most aggressive restart timeline of May 4.

This 5-part weekly series of articles begins this week with a look at the challenges the automotive industry and suppliers face with the restart activities, as well as a reminder of the IATF 16949® requirements (so as not to forget those requirements during these potentially chaotic activities).  There will most likely be, significant challenges and disruptions in the days to come.

These narratives will address some of the main concerns being considered within the automotive industry (as covered during much of March and April, 2020 within the pages of Automotive News, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, etc):  These themes include:

1. Keeping stakeholders safe and following requirements established by regulatory entities
2. Logistic and supply consideration (including material scarcity, lack of uniform timing for business opening, and global supply conditions)
3. OEM and higher tiers 2020 productivity and volume recalculations
4. Future health challenges (ie: re-emergence and spikes requiring further closures or adjustments)

Automotive Restart: The Road To Recovery Series

Full Automotive Restart Five-Part Series Links:

Upcoming weekly articles will focus upon the following:

1. The 4 M’s of your manufacturing processes (Material, Manpower, Methods and Measures) and how those may be impacted and IATF 16949® requirements to consider
2. Customer satisfaction/customer communications for possible scarcity and allocations
3. Change management requirements and implementation, including temporary process changes due to changes in headcount, supplier, materials, outsourced processor issues, etc.
4. Contingency planning with an emphasis on impact of current situations and risk of short-term future health challenges
5. Employee issues involving policies on safe distancing, sanitization, shift gathering and lunch breaks.

We Can Help: IATF 16949^® Experts a Click Away

If you’re searching for an IATF 16949:2016 consultant, our team at simpleQuE is well-positioned to support your IATF 16949® and MAQMSR consulting (Minimum Automotive Quality Management System Requirements), certification, maintenance, training and internal auditing needs. Our consultants are qualified, certified, and are experts on the automotive standards, customer-specific requirements, and AIAG or VDA core tools. In addition, many are current or former 3rd party auditors who bring valuable insight because of the knowledge gained from auditing for certification bodies.

SimpleQuE also offers a full line-up of IATF 16949® training courses which includes AIAG and VDA Core Tools, Root Cause Analysis and Problem Solving, Requirements and Implementation.  With IATF® also putting a major focus on internal auditor competency, it is essential to have IATF 16949® Internal Auditor Training. Our IATF 16949® auditor training utilizes the process audit approach. Contact Our IATF® consultants to learn more about the customized services offered to match your certification and training needs.

Obtaining and maintaining IATF 16949®, and meeting all of the related Customer Specific Requirements (CSRs), is difficult, which is why we’ve created free IATF 16949® tools, checklists and resources for your use. 

SimpleQuE strives to be an informational source that provides value to our customers by examining some of the challenges identified by the automotive industries and provide insight into the IATF 16949® requirements to help your organization maintain compliance during this unusual and complex time. 

This series of articles was written for simpleQuE by Robert (Bob) Dornhecker, a simpleQuE consultant who specializes in ISO 9001 and IATF 16949® quality system development, auditing and training. He also performs third-party audits for Certification Bodies. With over 35 years of combined experience in auditing, manufacturing and certification, Bob has an extensive quality background.  Additionally, he has taught and facilitated many quality-related training classes for clients and has provided support to companies securing their own ISO/Quality Management Systems certifications.

SimpleQuE is not associated with the IATF®, IAOB, ANAB®, IAQG®, and is not a certification body. SimpleQuE is an independent consulting, training, and second-party auditing service provider that assists a company on a path for the company to obtain and maintain certification through accredited certification bodies.