If you've ever asked yourself, “What is VDA?”, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll attempt to explain it and unpack why it’s such an important organization and how its quality standards impact the automotive industry.
What is VDA?
"VDA" stands for "Verband der Automobilindustrie,” which translates from German to English as “Association of the Automotive Industry.” You may also have seen “VDA QMC” the latter acronym meaning “Quality Management Center” which is the part of the VDA organization responsible for drafting and releasing their quality standards through committees like VDA 6.3 for example.
The VDA plays a crucial role in establishing industry standards that ensure high quality and safety in the manufacturing process across the automotive value chain. These standards cover various aspects of vehicle production, ranging from Management for new launch to Field Failure Analysis for warranty claims and everything in between. Their standards focus on processes, compliance, and conformance, as well as how to audit to ensure the effectiveness of the quality management systems (QMS).
Adhering to these standards is stringent and ensures that manufacturers are able to deliver consistent quality, reliability, and safety, which benefits consumers and protects brands from reputational damage associated with poor-quality automotive manufacturing.
Innovation
As the automotive industry changes and mobility becomes ever more the confluence of energy, intelligence, and transportation, VDA adapts and creates new standards as required to encompass these innovations and to maintain not only relevance but engagement with the industry at large by leading discussions, workshops, and impacting decisions on autonomous driving, sustainable supply chains, and other factors facing the industry today. They also collaborate closely with other organizations, such as IATF and AIAG, to synergize quality management across the globe.
VDA Quality Standards Snapshot
There are numerous volumes within the VDA, but one of the most important and widely recognized is Volume 6, which deals specifically with Quality Standards. https://vda-qmc.de/en/vda-zertifizierungen/vda-6-x/
For this article, we will focus on the first 3 Standards from this volume:
VDA 6.1 focuses on a System for Serial for production. This standard represents a full QMS system which could be compared to ISO9001:2015 or IATF16949:2016 for example.
As such, this section is a fundamental part of the industry’s quality assurance.
Where VDA 6.1 is all about ensuring quality in automotive product manufacturing, VDA 6.2 puts the spotlight on quality management among service providers in the industry who either sell, repair, or maintain automotive products.
The reason why VDA 6.2 is so important is that it covers the crucial aspect of maintaining quality provision of services to the automotive industry.
Of these 3 standards, VDA 6.3 is the most widely known and required and therefore arguably of greatest importance. VDA 6.3 documents how to conduct a Process Audit correctly. This specifies how various processes through all 7 P-elements from P1 Potential Analysis, P2 Project Management, P3 Planning of Product and Production Process Development, P4 Implementation of Product and Production Process Development, P5 Supplier Management, P6 Production Process Analysis, and P7 Customer Service are assessed so that they meet industry standards, which are expected in automotive manufacturing.
These three standards are important because of how widely applied across the global automotive industry they are. They collectively have a huge impact on the quality, safety, and reliability of vehicles, which is of critical importance to consumers and regulatory bodies in various countries.
Since the automotive industry is highly regulated, understanding these standards is critical for manufacturers to stay compliant and remain a valuable part of the supply chain, ensuring their products meet consumer and downstream quality expectations.
The VDA 6.3 standard is central to how companies in the automotive value chain are audited and how their personnel are certified. Around the world, manufacturers and suppliers supplying to German OEMs are expected to adhere to this standard as a customer requirement.
Battery Production
The future of mobility is clearly heading towards electrification or hybridization and so the VDA has made standards in collaboration with laboratories dealing with Technical Cleanliness. Standards VDA 19.1 and 19.2 are critical for companies to learn and implement in order to create and maintain the necessary environments for battery production to prevent contaminants and other impacts to the components, raw materials, and personnel.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity has also become a critical focus area for the VDA, as connected and autonomous cars are vulnerable to cyber risks. This means that data protection, network security, and encryption protocols need to be robust enough to repel hacking attempts and data breaches, which could lead to defects in the manufacturing process, stolen information, or malfunctioning components.
One of the VDA’s most notable efforts in this area includes its development of the TISAX standard in collaboration with ENX, a global standard that centers on automotive cybersecurity for information transfer and protection.
Encona offers training and consulting for the automotive industry to ensure conformance with VDA standards. We go far beyond helping you understand what VDA stands for, ensuring your business is equipped to implement them as well. Contact us today for more information.
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