Standardisation of quality and reliability tests in the auto-parts industry: a structured approach concerning thermal systems

In the automotive industry, first-tier suppliers play an important role, as they often establish long-term partnerships with multiple car-makers for developing and supplying complete car modules. One of the conditions underlying these partnerships is the quality and reliability of car modules. To achieve it, car-makers generally require multiple tests, often on 100% of the parts subcontracted. The number of tests required can be very high, even for modules with a relatively low level of customisation. Also, the configuration of the tests can vary significantly from one car-maker to another, even for the same test typologies. The aim of this paper is to present a decision-support tool for the standardisation of quality and reliability tests, which uses some already available information on previous tests (e.g. about their effectiveness, cost and simplicity of execution) and involves experts both from the supplier’s and car-makers’ staff. Test standardisation is guided by a simple procedure based on two steps: (i) grouping the tests required by different carmakers into typologies of homologous tests, with a similar protection level in terms of product and quality reliability, and (ii) determining the most appropriate configuration for each test typology. The description of the methodology is based on a real case-study concerning a worldwide supplier of thermal systems.