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Standards & Guidance · United States

AIAG & VDA SPC

AIAG & VDA SPC Manual — Process Management, Performance and Capability, Control Charts

Status Key Requirements What Auditors Ask Download the PDF

New Edition, 2026 Checked October 24, 2026

The harmonized AIAG & VDA manual was released in July 2026. Customers decide when their suppliers must move to it; until then, work to the edition your customer names.

Next: Expect customer notices setting adoption dates; commentators anticipate a transition of about two years.

What It Covers

How to use statistical methods to understand, control, and improve a process: control charts, process performance and capability indices, and the control system around them.

Who It Applies To

Automotive suppliers, and any manufacturer that controls a process statistically or reports capability to a customer.

Key Requirements

  • Capability (Cp, Cpk) reported only for stable processes; performance indices (Pp, Ppk) used otherwise.
  • Control chart selection guided by the data type and distribution, with charts for non-normal data.
  • Rules for detecting special causes, and a reaction plan for each out-of-control signal.
  • Sampling frequency informed by risk from the PFMEA, with measurement systems proven first.

What an Auditor Asks to See

  • Control charts for the special characteristics, with the reactions to recent signals.
  • Capability studies for the PPAP and whether the process was stable when they were run.
  • Which edition of the SPC manual your customers require.

Where Systems Fall Short

  • Cpk reported for an unstable process.
  • Control charts filled in but never reacted to.

How QES Helps

SPC set up where it earns its keep, with reaction plans operators can follow and a transition plan to the 2026 manual.

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Related Standards

Sources. VDA QMC Webshop — AIAG & VDA SPC Manual, 1st edition 2026 (opens in a new tab); DQS — Release of AIAG VDA SPC Manual, 1st edition (July 2026) (opens in a new tab); AIAG — Automotive Industry Action Group publications (opens in a new tab). Status checked October 24, 2026. This page summarizes AIAG & VDA SPC; it does not reproduce or replace it. Buy the standard from its publisher, or read the regulation in its official text, before relying on a detail. Not legal advice.