Where did IATF 16949 come from? - Beginning in 1994 with the successful launch of QS 9000 by DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM, the Automotive OEM's recognized the increased value that could be derived from an independent quality system registration scheme and the efficiencies that could be realized in the supply chain by communing system requirements.

In 1996, the success of these efforts led to a move towards the development of a globally accepted and harmonized quality management system requirements document. From this, the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) was formed to lead the development effort.

What is IATF 16949? The result of the I TAF's effort is the IATF 16949 specification. IATF 16949 forms the requirements or the application of ISO 9001 for automotive production and relevant service part organizations.

There are actually two versions of IATF 16949 - the 1999 revision and the 2008 revision. Both use the ISO 9001 Standard as the basis for their development and include the requirements from these Standards with specific 'adders' for the automotive supply chain. The 1999 revision of TS uses the 1994 revision of ISO 9001 as its baseline while the 2002 revision of TS builds off the ISO 9001:2001 document.