VDA 6.5 Product Audit

Product Audit: 

The product audit is one of the oldest methods which give a statement on the quality of products prior to their delivery to the customer. It assesses the effectiveness of quality assurance through the examination of a small number of products and/or parts and confirms the quality capability of the production process based on the quality of a product. Thereby, it is verified whether the product complies with the given specifications and/or special customer/supplier agreements.
A product audit concerns 

• the planning
• the review
• the evaluation
• the documentation

of quality characteristics of tangible products (VDA 6.5) after completion of production stage prior to submission to an internal/external customer. 

Product audits are carried out regularly or for specific reason, they do not, however, serve as a substitute for checks during the production process. They can be carried out on the results of all business processes in product development, manufacturing and marketing. 

…..the expectations of end customers can no longer be expressed in specifications alone. Vehicle manufacturers and the supplier industry are required to identify these product characteristics independently and to implement them in the products. This approach must also be taken into account when conducting product audits.

Product audits should indicate the quality level of internally/externally manufactured products in the process chain.

This third edition of VDA Volume 6 Part 5 – Product Audit – replaces the second edition from 2008.

Content - VDA 6.5

1. Preface

2. Purpose and area application

3. Product audit sequence

4. Audit program
 4.1 Input criteria for determining the audit program
 4.2 Specifications of the audit program
 4.3 Scope of an audit program
 4.4 Implementation of the audit program
 4.5 Monitoring and evaluation of the audit program

5. Audit plan
 5.1 Inspection characteristics and specifications
 5.2 Test equipment and number of paerts to be tested
 5.3 Specifications for controling the test parts
 5.3.1 Parts removal
 5.3.2 Parts labeling
 5.3.3 Transport and packaging of parts
 5.3.4 Return of products
 5.4 Reference documents

6 Execution of product audit

7 Audit report
 7.1 Notes of the classification of deviations and their evaluation

8 Initiation of audit follow-up actions
 8.1 Immediate measures
 8.2 Knowledge trasfer

9 Qualification of product auditors
 9.1 Product auditor
 9.2 Additional roles

10 Reference documents

11 Definition of terms and glossary