ELYRIA, Ohio — Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC has announced all of its North American manufacturing facilities have received ISO/TS 16949 certification, the trucking industry’s most recognized international standard for quality management systems.

Bendix facilities in Frankfort, Ky., Huntington, Ind. and Acua, Mexico completed the certification requirements nearly 18 months prior to the expiration of the QS-9000 standard, making it among the first component and systems manufacturers to be in full compliance to the industry standards.

“Completing the certification requirements early, as well as prior to any mandates, demonstrates our ongoing leadership, dedication to quality and strong commitment to setting industry standards in all that we provide our customers,” said Ralph Dominguez, quality director for Bendix. “Upgrading our quality system to ISO-TS16949 is in line with our quality policy that places customer satisfaction and continuous improvement among our top priorities.”

In North America, Bendix produces air brake and control systems components such as original equipment and remanufactured compressors, air dryers, valves and modular brake products.

ISO/TS 16949 is an automotive and trucking industry quality system that stems from the ISO 9001:2000 and replaces QS-9000 (United States). ISO/TS 16949 includes all of the requirements of the QS-9000 and utilizes process and product effectiveness on an international level. It focuses on defining quality requirements for use in the automotive and trucking supply chain through an intense registration system. The registration includes third party auditor qualifications and common rules for consistent global certification.

Benefits of ISO/TS 16949 include:
– Improved product and process quality.
– Additional confidence for global sourcing.
– Reassignment of supplier resources to quality improvement.
– Common quality system approach in the supply chain for supplier/subcontractor development and consistency.
– Reduction in multiple second party audits.

ISO/TS 16949 was jointly developed by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) and submitted to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for approval and publication.

To maintain the standard, the Bendix manufacturing facilities will undergo full recertification every three years in addition to six-month maintenance audits.