VDA Band 6 Teil 5:2008-01

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.
Finding a standard evaluation system is still difficult. As the variation span here is so wide, a number of methods have been represented in the examples, which each company can adopt or modify and bring into application.