ISO/TS 16949 certificate for Certools

© gazeo.comCertools presidents proudly display the newly obtained ISO/TS 16949 certificate

Certools is the first Polish company from the field of LPG/CNG filter production who has been granted the ISO/TS 16949 certificate. The system implemented by the company has been certified by TÜV Rheinland Poland and the certificate was handed over by the latter company's System Certifications Division director, Grzegorz Grabka, to Certools' two presidents: Piotr Czekalski and Krzysztof Hanke.

The ISO/TS 16949 itself is a development of the ISO 9001 standard, which encompasses the entire process of creation of a product – from design, through manufacturing, to its maintenance. The specification of the ISO/TS 16949 is adjusted to the needs and requirements of car manufacturers and designed for companies acting as subcontractors and suppliers for the automotive industry.

So what does the ISO/TS 16949 certificate mean to a company like Certools? We asked Grzegorz Grabka of TÜV Rheinland Poland and Ryszard Iciek – Certools' quality management system proxy.

The ISO/TS 16949 standard, or actually the technical specification, combines requirements of quality management systems for the automotive industry as used in the following standards: American (QS-9000), German (VDA6.1), French (EAQF) and Italian (AVSQ). This way the need to make multiple certifications in order to comply to specific market requirements and standards is eliminated.

In order to apply for the ISO/TS 16949, a company must have a quality management system in operation with documented quality logs for the previous 12 months (i. e. an ISO 9001 cerificate) and must cooperate with at least company from the automotive sector. Obtaining the ISO/TS 16949 is much more difficult that the ISO 9001. A quality management system certified to comply with the ISO/TS 16949 requires introducing a much greater number of procedures and applying statistics in terms of process control to facilitate monitoring the level of faults.

For Certools, a company exporting LPG and CNG filtering solutions to a number of very different markets all across the globe, some of which have no specific local regulations concerning gaseous fuel systems, obtaining the ISO/TS 16949 certificate was of crucial importance. From the perspective of the company's customer, the certificate is a warranty of Certools filters' compliance with technological and quality requirements of that certificate.

Moreover, Certools notices three other vital advantages behind obtaining the ISO/TS 16949 certificate:

© gazeo.comCertools filters' quality is no longer a word of honour - it's certified!

• introducing procedures understood and accepted by manufacturers using Certools products during factory conversion processes;
• enhancing corporate image in foreign markets where holding the ISO 9001 and ISO/TS 16949 certifications is regarded tangible warranty of proper quality,
• a shift in mentality of employees and cooperators, for whom being customer-oriented has become the highest value.

The ISO/TS 16949 is not the end of certification within Certools – in 2015 the company is going to introduce the Environment Management System based on the PN-EN ISO 14001:2005 standard.