Consider the following two questions:
If so, we would respectfully ask you to consider adding IATF 16949 certification to your list of requirements for your key suppliers.
Many coatings suppliers continue to focus on minimizing costs and maximizing profits. As a result, most have not taken the time or expense to get themselves IATF certified. In our conversations with major OEMs, we can assure you that the IATF certification of your suppliers can be of great value and help you sleep better at night.
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We will get into some of the specifics of IATF certification a little later, but for now, let us briefly discuss some of the risks IATF can potentially address and minimize for you.
At the most basic of levels, recent events have shown that the procedures incorporated into IATF 16949 can minimize the risk of line-down and shutdown situations that can travel up the supply chain without warning.
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Over the last few years, the electronics and automotive industries have been uniquely affected by disruptions in their complex supply chain. The COVID pandemic along with the imbalance in the move to globalization have been the primary causes. The result has in some cases been a chain reaction upward within the supply lines for key raw materials, packaging, and sub-assemblies. Stresses on procurement efforts have led to breakdowns all the way through the system and the final product in some cases has been “line down” and production halts at great expense.
Now, seemingly more than ever, it is critical for manufacturers of electronics and sub-assemblies for automotive purposes to bolster and solidify their supply lines. This includes ensuring that suppliers have systems in place to assure consistency and reliability of their product quality as well as their supply capabilities. This is especially applicable to manufacturers in Asia and other far-flung locales.
The complexity of manufacturing and logistics from these locations back to OEMs in Europe and North America is fraught with pitfalls and risks. Every effort should be made to assure both quality and consistency of supply, and choosing suppliers with IATF certification can be of great value (ensuring suppliers are not using counterfeit conformal coatings is another method of risk mitigation). It is becoming commonplace for OEMs and Tier 1s to REQUIRE IATF programs as their value has been shown in keeping supply arrangements running smoothly.
Unique to the automotive industry, the Industry Automotive Task Force (IATF) was assigned the task of creating a standard of quality and supply that fits the industry’s specific needs. This demanding standard requires great effort and investment.
Without going through all the details, similar to other quality standards such as ISO, IATF 16949 reviews all quality and manufacturing processes to assure consistent quality. In addition, unique to the automotive industry IATF then proceeds to address other potential product or process disruptors.
When choosing suppliers of key raw materials, including conformal coatings and encapsulation materials, it would be wise to look to sources that have been certified to this standard.
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IATF 16949 is a QUALITY system certification, isn’t it? So other than assuring quality, why is it important that my suppliers be IATF certified? How would this have limited my risks during disruptions like the recent pandemic and such?
The answer is that in fact IATF 16949 is NOT just a review and certification of quality procedures. It is specifically designed as a holistic review of a supplier’s systems including supply chain diversification and risk, management response procedures, and continuous improvement and process reviews. The automotive task force was aware of the specific risk of supply chain disruptions within the complex automotive manufacturing process and made certain that all potential risks including those well beyond quality were addressed within the standard.
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The choice of coatings suppliers within the PCB and electronics industries is difficult and has been further complicated as many contract manufacturers have moved to locations far from the assembly sites of major OEMs. There have been many documented “line down” incidents at OEMs related to supply chain disruptions over the past few years that have caused significant expense within the system and to consumers. Procurement evaluations have been shown to be inadequate in cases where an in-depth analysis of the supplier’s capabilities has not been undertaken.
To avoid the need for time-consuming and costly supplier audits, the IATF certification process is one way for manufacturers of electronics to assure themselves that there are systems in place that will continuously monitor supply disruption potential. When choosing suppliers of key raw materials, including conformal coatings and encapsulation materials, it would be wise to look to sources that have been certified to this standard. For instance, BMW lists HumiSeal's UV500 on its Qualified Products List (QPL).
In addition to over five decades of supply history, Humiseal manufacturing locations are all fully audited and certified to automotive standard IATF 16949. We believe this time-consuming and expensive certification process was necessary to assure our automotive customers we will be there when they most need us.
As a supplier of most forms and chemistries of electronics and industrial coatings, Chase and Humiseal can help you with an unbiased approach to evaluating your application and process. We’ll show you how to maximize efficiency, minimize cost, and improve product reliability. Our outstanding manufacturing and technical support groups can provide your organization with reliable global supply, unmatched quality, and superior technical support.
Please contact us today to discuss your application.