Brief review of German standards for quality audits in automotive production

Quality management systems (QMS) in the automotive industry have several differences in comparison with other industrial factories. Each customer has his own specific requirements, the so-called CSRs (Customer Specific Requirements). Audits are one of the core-tools of quality management to make the PDCA cycle work. It is clear that compliance to ISO/TS 16949:2009 requirements is a condition for supplying the automotive industry. But there are some standards which co-exist together with the official ISO9001 Q-management systems standards and technical specification ISO/TS16949. What are those specific standards in the automotive industry and which standard should be used and why – those are the questions to be answered in this article.