IVP Achieves IATF Certification

ISO/TS 16949 is an international quality standard for automotive companies that was developed by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF). IVP has been certified to the ISO/TS 16949 standard since January 2005. In late 2016, the IATF published an upgrade to the standard called IATF 16949 with new requirements that better meet the automotive industry needs and expectations. After September 14, 2018, companies can no longer be certified to ISO/TS 16949 and must transition to IATF 16949.

Some of the changes to the standard included an increased concentration on risk mitigation through risk-based thinking, integration of Customer-Specific Requirements, verifying competency of all personnel and especially internal auditors, the addition of product-safety related products, manufacturing feasibility, increased importance of warranty management, the addition of products with embedded software, and 21 new required documented processes.

IVP's transition began in August 2017. Chad Gilbert was hired in October 2017 to assist with the transition. The IATF Transition Committee consisted of Sabrina Arrick, Chad Gilbert, Joe Camp, Tom Williams, Lydia Miller, Dirk Arends, Kyle Egly, and Kayode Masha. Randy Gelsthorpe and Ron Brown joined the Committee in June 2018. We started by calling one of our automotive customers, Melling Tool Company, and they provided us with information that proved invaluable in the transition. We used Melling's Gap Analysis spreadsheet to go through each clause of the standard and determine if we met the requirement or if we had a gap. Once the Gap Analysis was complete, we created a list of all of our gaps and assigned them to the appropriate departments to implement a process to close the gap. On April 9, two weeks after the roof collapsed over IVP's main manufacturing building, Omnex performed a second Gap Analysis and provided us with a list of which clauses still showed gaps. It is a testament to the focus and drive of IVP employees that even in the midst of the roof collapse catastrophe, the IATF 16949 transition continued to be a top priority!

In May 2018, fifteen IVP employees attended IATF 16949 training from Omnex. Goodwill was kind enough to let us use their beautiful training room located on War Memorial Drive. Seven employees became certified internal auditors: Sabrina Arrick, Joe Camp, Tom Williams, Lydia Miller, Scott Bloom, Tyler Johnson, and Kim Sluga.

Due to the new required documented processes, we completely redefined our business management system with 16 processes. Each process required a turtle (inputs, outputs, equipment, procedures, roles, measurements, opportunities, and risks), a documented process (a high-level description of the steps taken to perform the process), and two Key Process Indicators (KPIs) to measure the process effectiveness and efficiency. The internal auditors performed a full system audit of our new business management system. The internal audit results, process KPIs and other requirements were reviewed during a Management Review Meeting and action plans have been created for any process that is not meeting its KPI goal.

IVP's IATF 16949 transition audit was held on July 30-31, 2018. I am excited to announce that IVP passed our audit with only one minor non-conformance in supplier management! The auditor stated that we were in the top 1% of companies audited for the number of non-conformances received. This is especially remarkable given everything IVP has been through with the roof collapse. Corrective actions will be submitted by the end of August and we should have our official certificate by the end of September.

I would like to thank the following:

• Daryl Lindemann for providing me with the support and resources necessary to accomplish a successful transition
• Chad Gilbert for leading the transition and reading aloud every single clause (sometimes more than once!) to the committee
• Chad Gilbert, Joe Camp, Tom Williams, Lydia Miller, Dirk Arends, Kyle Egly, and Kayode Masha for your tremendous support, dedication, and time investment. Even though your workloads significantly increased due to the roof collapse, you continued to keep the transition as a high priority. I could not have done it without you and greatly appreciate everything you did! You all went well above and beyond to achieve a successful transition.
• Joe Camp, Tom Williams, Lydia Miller, Scott Bloom, Tyler Johnson, and Kim Sluga for attending the internal auditor training and adding this task to your workload
• Randy Gelsthorpe and Ron Brown for assisting with your documented processes
• Brian Dentinger, Kim Sluga, and Cheng Rogers for taking on additional workload while I was working on the transition
• Melling Tool Company for your tremendous support and invaluable information throughout our transition process
• Goodwill for providing us with a training location and your hospitality
• My husband and kids for taking on additional responsibilities while I worked on many evenings and weekends