The critical factors for implementing the quality system of ISO/TS 16949 in automobile parts industry in Taiwan

Since most manufacturers promote ISO/TS16949 quality system certification process through the help of external counsellors, this study focuses upon the auditors of ISO/TS 16949 as the primary objects of the research, in contrast to previous studies targeting certified manufacturers. Collecting data through questionnaire surveys, this study first utilises Kano's model to discover the main factors identified as potential improvements by ISO/TS 16949, then uses fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to rank the importance of these factors, and finally introduces the quality function deployment (QFD) relation matrix to discuss the key factors to a successful implementation of ISO/TS 16949 certification. The results show that two remarkable improvement factors of enterprises promoting ISO/TS 16949 certification lie in identifying internal customers to meet the requirements to complete the product, and identifying production and service supply processes to meet the requirements. Results acquired from QFD further show that customer information collection, internal auditing capability, and statistical analysis capability are the necessary technical demands to achieve these essential improvements. The results can help enterprises effectively allocate resources to implement the quality system of ISO/TS 16949.