1. When to use it
- Your customer requires VDA 6.3 audits of your suppliers, or your own supplier quality manual does.
- A supplier has had a quality escape and you need to see whether its process can hold its control plan.
- You’re transferring a product to a new supplier or a new line and want the process assessed before volume ramps up.
If you need a supplier certified, this isn’t the service: VDA 6.3 is a process audit, not a certification. For a check of a supplier’s quality management system, see the QMS audit of a supplier (A3). For your own system, see the internal audit service (A7).
2. Scope options
VDA 6.3 covers the product life cycle in process elements P2 to P7. P1, the potential analysis of a new supplier, is a separate assessment.
| Scope | Elements | Typical on site |
|---|---|---|
| Production process, one product route | P6 | 2 days |
| Series production | P5, P6, P7 | 3 days |
| Full life cycle | P2 to P7 | 4–5 days |
P2–P4 cover project management and product and process development. P5 is supplier management, P6 the production process, and P7 customer care and customer satisfaction.
3. What the supplier should prepare
We send this list with the audit plan at least five working days before the audit:
- Process flow, PFMEA and control plan for the product in scope
- Measurement system analysis and process capability studies for the control-plan characteristics
- Sub-supplier list with ratings, and the results of its own supplier audits
- Customer complaints and 8D reports from the past 12 months
- Internal and layered process audit results
- Training and qualification matrix for the production area
- Calibration and preventive maintenance records for the line
- How process parameters and machine software are protected against unauthorised changes
- Interface agreements with any supplier your customer nominated (directed suppliers)
For a full life cycle audit (P2–P4), add the project risk list and lessons-learned records, the procurement plan for the development phase, and software release records if the product contains software.
4. A typical three-day P5–P7 audit
- Day 1 morningOpening and supplier management (P5)Opening meeting. How the supplier selects, contracts, develops and monitors its own suppliers, and how incoming material is released.
- Day 1 afternoonProduction process begins (P6)Walk the product route from goods receipt, comparing each process step with its control plan.
- Day 2Production process on the floor (P6)For each process step: inputs, work content, personnel, equipment and tooling, effectiveness, and output. One lot is traced from incoming material to shipment. Where possible, a second shift is observed.
- Day 3 morningCustomer care (P7)Complaint handling, 8D quality, field failure analysis, and how customer requirements reach the floor.
- Day 3 afternoonRating and closing meetingEvery question is rated against the evidence. Provisional ratings, findings and classification are presented and the facts confirmed with the supplier.
- AfterReportTarget: within five working days. VDA 6.3 rating sheet, findings with evidence, and a request for the supplier’s action plan.
5. How scoring works
Under VDA 6.3:2023, each question is rated by how fully the requirement is met:
| Points | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 10 | Requirements fully met |
| 8 | Mostly met, minor deviations |
| 6 | Partly met, more significant deviations |
| 4 | Insufficiently met, major deviations |
| 0 | Not met |
Question ratings are combined into a degree of fulfilment for each element and for the audit overall, expressed as a percentage. The overall result is then classified:
| Class | Overall degree of fulfilment |
|---|---|
| A | 90% or more |
| B | 80% to under 90% |
| C | Under 80% |
Downgrade rules can lower the class even when the overall percentage is high: for example, low ratings on starred (*) questions, or any question rated 0. Our auditors apply the rules of VDA 6.3:2023, the 4th edition. If your customer requires an earlier edition, tell us at scoping and we’ll confirm the auditor is qualified for it.
VDA 6.3 audits are rated with VDA’s own scheme above, not with the Critical / Major / Minor severity scale we use for other audits.
6. What changed in the 2023 edition
VDA 6.3:2023 replaced the 2016 edition. These are the changes that most affect what an audit looks at:
- Software is assessed throughout. Development questions cover software requirements and releases, including open-source components. In production, software versions are part of change control, and process parameters and software must be protected against unauthorised access.
- Procurement is assessed earlier. Two new questions cover how purchased parts and suppliers are planned for and approved during development (P3.4 and P4.5).
- Customer-nominated suppliers. Responsibilities and interface agreements with directed suppliers are now assessed explicitly.
- Project management goes further. Escalation, lessons learned from earlier projects and project risks are part of project management. The separate escalation question has gone.
- Closer alignment with IATF 16949 and VDA Volume 5. This covers terms for special characteristics, suspect product, rework and measuring systems, and a risk-based approach to maintenance, audit programmes and start-up.
- Different starred questions. Project resources (P2.2), procurement planning (P3.4) and start-up assurance at the handover to series production (P6.1.1) are now starred.
Findings in our reports use the 2023 question numbers, and the report states the edition applied.
7. Who performs it
Only an auditor whose VDA 6.3 qualification has been confirmed with the issuing body, and covers the 2023 edition, can be offered a VDA 6.3 audit. Today our founding auditors who hold this qualification are going through verification.
Where your supplier runs a specialised process, such as wire bonding, we propose an auditor with hands-on experience of it. See our wire-bond audit guide for the depth we look for.
8. Price
From S$2,400 for the smallest scope: P6 on one product route, two days on site plus reporting, in Malaysia. Your quotation adds hotel and transport at cost, travel time, and anything specific to your requirements, such as more product routes or a second shift.