National Semiconductor Receives ISO/TS16949 Certification for Quality Management System Standards

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National Semiconductor Receives ISO/TS16949 Certification for Quality Management System Standards

Worldwide Sites Meet New Stricter Automotive Requirements

May 1, 2006 – National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM) received ISO/TS16949 certification from Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Certification Incorporated. The certification includes requirements of the ISO9001:2000 as well as the ISO/TS16949:2002 standard. The TS16949 standard meets the stringent quality requirements of automotive customers.

Members of the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) developed the TS16949 quality management standard for the design, production, installation and servicing of automotive-related products. The IATF mandates that suppliers meet these quality-standard requirements in order to supply parts to its members, an ad-hoc, worldwide group of automotive manufacturers and trade associations whose common goal is to improve the quality of products to automotive customers.

National has supplied semiconductor chips to the automotive market since silicon made its first appearance in vehicles more than four decades ago.  With a broad analog portfolio of automotive-ready products, National’s chips can be found in nearly every automobile subsystem.  Its power management technology, high-speed data conversion and interface products, precision operational amplifiers, temperature sensors and display drivers provide the key components for a range of systems from today’s car alarms to emerging systems such as telematics, infotainment, driver information and automation systems, wireless connectivity, in-vehicle networking and drive-by-wire.  For more information on National’s automotive products, visit http://www.national.com/appinfo/automotive/.

Structured around the "plan, do, check, act" quality improvement model, the TS16949 requires that companies implement a continual improvement process that emphasizes process definition, management oversight and customer satisfaction.

"This certification is another step in National’s ongoing quality improvement program, which we started with our initial certification to the ISO9000 standards family in 1991,” said Gerry Fields, vice president of National’s worldwide quality network. “Although driven by the automotive industry, the TS16949 standard benefits all of our customers by focusing on customer satisfaction and the superior quality of our products."  

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