TL 9000 — Telecommunication Companies

(Quality Management Systems)

Background

TL 9000 is currently at release 4. This standard is published by the QuEST Forum (Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications) and includes all of the requirements ISO 9001 and adds requirements specific to the Telecommunications industry. Like ISO 9001, TL 9000 is intended to apply to all companies regardless of size, product (as long as the product is related to telecommunications), or location. One significant feature of TL 9000 is the requirement to report specific data to the QuEST forum. These data formulations are specified in great detail by TL 9000 for any given product type. The data is collected and then made available to members (in aggregate so it is not possible to know how any particular company performed), of the QuEST forum, and can be used for benchmarking purposes. While submitting data is required there are no performance level requirements to achieve or maintain TL 9000 registration. Further complicating TL 9000 registrations is that the QuEST forum is continually making clarifications and interpretations of TL 9000 through "Alerts”, which must also be complied with.

Challenges to Registration and Beyond

Because TL 9000 adds many requirements to ISO 9001, understanding those added (and often times very prescriptive and specific) requirements and applying those requirements to a particular company and a particular product can be confusing. Many product categories are relatively straight forward, but the more complex the product (especially if it fulfills more than one of the TL 9000 defined product categories) can be challenging to apply. As with most standards, companies have a tendency in preparation for registration to meet each requirement with detailed documentation which is then difficult to maintain past registration. Therefore a key focus of our Accelerated Registration Program® is to ensure that all TL 9000 requirements are addressed in an intelligent way that enables registration, but also is a system that can be maintained well into the future.
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“Clydesdale was instrumental in making our company 100% successful in implementing both TL 9000 and ISO 9000 for two separate divisions. Their knowledge, expertise, and approach in establishing flowcharted procedures made it user friendly for both employees and auditors.”
—John Hanigofsky,
   Draka Comteq