The VDA recommends its members adopt the VDA 6.3 (2010) standard for implementing and maintaining quality management systems to meet higher product expectations and ensure robust processes throughout the manufacturing and supply chain. The VDA 6.3 process audit focuses on verifying organizational performance rather than mere conformance to standards, assessing process risks, responsibilities, and communication to improve effectiveness. It breaks down the product life cycle into seven audit elements and emphasizes ongoing process improvement, particularly for supplier management and customer satisfaction.

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The VDA recommends it’s members to apply VDA
6.3 (2010) standard for the implementation and
maintenance of Quality management System,
because it believes, higher expectations of
products require robust processes which must be
secure throughout the entire manufacturing and
supply chain.
While a System audit of TS 16949 or ISO 9001
seeks out the ‘Conformance’ of the organization to
the written standards, the Process audit by VDA
6.3 way verifies the ‘Performance’ of the
organization.

5. Kiran Walimbe
The processes get analyzed in such a way that
Risks and Weaknesses are detected in work-
processes and their interfaces. The auditor
ultimately is attempting to find out whether There is
a person responsible for the processes i.e. Process
Responsibility PR; Are the Processes directed
towards targets based upon the companies
requirements i.e. Target orientation TO; is
Important information (e.g. quality, problems…)
communicated promptly & comprehensively to the
necessary persons i.e. Communication CO; and
are the Risks in the processes appropriately
identified & taken into account i.e. Risk
Identification RI.

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PR, TO, CO and RI are the are general
requirements relating to a process (Process
Orientation) without which the operations &
effectiveness of the process in question cannot
be guaranteed and the customer interest might be
endangered.
These elements make up what is known as ‘The
Generic Launch Pad’.
Amongst other things, the VDA 6.3 process audit
ends up assessing the four elements of Generic
Launch Pad.

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For auditing the ‘Business Process’ one needs to
define a process; identify all the associated risks
and in the end evaluate the business process to
confirm adequate mitigation of all of these risks.
VDA 6.3 defines all business or service processes
though plotting of Turtle Diagrams. A typical
template is shown here.
The risks exist on the interfaces. The auditor first
generates a list of possible risks in this interface.
Then he makes up a list of Open Questions to seek
whether these risks really exists or not.

9. Kiran Walimbe
He goes to the work place, asks these questions,
gets the answers and comes back to convert these
open questions to closed questions. He now has
got Yes-No answers available to these questions.
With this set of derived closed questions he opens
his laptop, opens the authorized questionnaire
from VDA & records his findings.
The macros in the excel sheet do the rest of job. In
an answer sheet, he finds the detailed verdict. Not
only the averaged cumulative rating is there, but
also the systematic derivative in terms of Generic
Launch Pad (PR-TO-CO-RI) is available to guide us
on what needs to improve in our business set up.

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VDA 6.3 breaks down a typical Product Life Cycle
into seven process elements calling them P1 to P7
as shown in diagram.
Out of these seven elements, the first one i.e.
Potential Analysis P1 applies only while assessing a
new and potential supplier.
The rest six elements get audited after confirming
award of contract & start of regular production.

12. Kiran Walimbe
The chart here shows the approximate starting
and closing points of these six phases in the entire
product life-cycle in manufacturing and supply
chain; which are:
P2-How well is the Project Managed
P3-APQP & Planning of Product & Process design
& development
P4-Product / Process realization or PPAP
P5-Effectiveness of Supplier management
P6-Process Analysis / Production (Most
elaborately done in VDA 6.3)
P7-After sales service, resolving customer related
issues & customer satisfaction

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Classification Overall level of
achievement Eg
[%]
Description of the
classification
A Eg > or = 90 Quality capable
B 80 = or < Eg < 90 Conditionally
quality capable
C Eg < 80 Not quality
capable
At the end of this audit the audited organization may
get one of the following ratings.

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Classification Yellow Red
Barred RED >14 One question
Controlled AMBER Max. 14 None
Released GREEN Max. 7 None
Special and different treatment to
evaluation of new suppliers.
The process audit for the process element P1,
occurs when a new supplier is identified to meet
some need of the organization. The audit Frame
work conditions are simple & consist of
Confidentiality agreement & Access permission,
the Timing is before the award decision and the
Risk analysis consists of Identifying product and
process risks. Simply put, Potential analysis is
nothing but ‘Comparing the performance of similar
suppliers with that of the Potential Supplier.’

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P2 for Project Management:
There exists a comprehensive project management
(including quality planning & risk management) for
planning as well as for carrying out the process &
product development. The project organization is
equipped with the necessary resources, its tasks,
authority and expertise are defined and known. The
customer is informed of the project planning. A
change management (change control) (involving
the customer) is established.

16. Kiran Walimbe
P3 for Planning of project and Product design &
development:
The requirements necessary for the product &
process development are known. The feasibility of
the products & the processes to be developed is
assured. The product / process development plan
ensures that all essential activities are planned with
the customer’s agreement. This also includes the
need to take into account the necessary technical &
personnel resources. Supplier management take
into account all designated parts supplied.

17. Kiran Walimbe
P4 for realization of product / process development:
All defined tasks from the planning of the product
and process must be conducted in the realization
phase. Changes must be recognized & taken into
account in the planning. Reviews must be carried
out at specified intervals during the realization
phase. If target requirements are not achieved,
actions must be specified & monitored for
effectiveness.

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P5 for Supplier Management:
Only approved / released & qualified suppliers are
used for serial production processes. Customer
requirements are known throughout the supply
chain and are implemented. Bought-in products
comply with the customer requirements which
have been agreed.

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P6 for Process management / Production:
This is the element which is audited most
intensely. It is further divided into:
6.1 what goes into the process,
6.2 are all production processes controlled?
(Process sequence),
6.3 what functions support the process?
Personnel resources,
6.4 what facilities are used to achieve the
process? (Material resources),
6.5 How effectively is the process carried out?
(Effectiveness, efficiency, elimination of waste),
6.6 What should the process produce? (Process
result / output)

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P7 for Customer service, Customer satisfaction and
Service:
The product as delivered meets the customer’s
requirements, Customer support and supply of
parts are ensured, There are effective and
sustainable failure elimination processes in place in
the event of complaints and rejects.

21. Kiran Walimbe
With this set of derived closed questions he opens
his laptop, opens the authorized questionnaire from
VDA & records his findings.
The macros in the excel sheet do the rest of job. In
an answer sheet, he finds the detailed verdict. Not
only the averaged cumulative rating is there, but
also the systematic conclusions in terms of Generic
Launch Pad (PR-TO-CO-RI) is available to guide us
on what needs to improve in our business set up.

22. Kiran Walimbe
In case of non-conformances, the ratings of
organization can go down. If it was earlier in ‘A’
category, it may get downgraded to either ‘B’ or
worse to ‘C’. The remedial course open to the
organization consists of following steps:
•Get it’s MR team trained in the ways of VDA 6.3
process auditing & commence in-house petrol
audits.
•Find out where the ratings have suffered losses.
Take corrective actions & verify their
effectiveness thru’ the teams of senior
management.
•Decide upon embracing Process Auditing, not to
please some external organizations but as means
of bringing home true and ever-lasting
improvements. After all it is great pride to build a
top performing organization & to work in it.

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Those readers, who wish to get formally qualified in
auditing by VDA 6.3 (2010) process audit system,
can undertake following Training Programs
offered by UBF.B Management Pvt. Ltd.
Module A + B 2 ....................... Process Auditor
for Product Life Cycle (own company and suppliers)
Modules B 2............................ Process Auditor for
Product Life Cycle (own company and suppliers)
Module E (= Modules A + B 2+ C) Certified
Process Auditor for Product Life Cycle (any
company)
Ulrike Peper e-mail Q-training@ubfb.de or
e-Mail berlin@ubfb.de
I am available for your comments and queries on
kiran.walimbe@ubfb.de or kiranwalimbe@live.com