IATF 16949 is ISO 9001 plus the automotive overlay, plus every customer-specific requirement your OEM has published. Treating it as “ISO 9001 with extra clauses” is how plants fail Stage 2.
Start with a gap analysis that includes CSRs, not only the IATF text. Then core tools: APQP, control plans, FMEA, MSA, SPC, and PPAP have to be used by manufacturing, not stored in a quality share drive.
WCH’s long-term automotive clients ask us to run the full IATF internal audit program. IATF rules on auditor qualification are real. An unqualified internal audit is itself a finding.
Contingency planning, competence, and management review are not paperwork. Customer scorecards, field returns, and premium freight belong in the system because that is what the IATF auditor will sample.
Timeline: a plant with a working ISO 9001 system and engaged leadership can be Stage-2-ready in a structured program measured in months, not years. A plant with no process approach will need longer, and we will say so in the proposal.