Supplier Requalification Audits
Demonstrate That Approved Products and Manufacturing Processes Remain Capable Over Time
Knowledge Kraft helps automotive suppliers plan, conduct and document periodic product and process requalification activities against applicable customer requirements.
Our assessments evaluate whether the conditions supporting the original product approval remain effective, including materials, process controls, measurement systems, testing, changes and production evidence.
Supplier Requalification Audits at a Glance
Service objective: To verify and document that products and manufacturing processes continue to meet approved customer and technical requirements.
Suitable For
- BMW Group suppliers
- Mercedes-Benz suppliers
- Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers
- Suppliers with periodic requalification obligations
- Organizations managing several product families
- Suppliers responding to customer requalification findings
- Businesses with overdue or incomplete requalification records
Knowledge Kraft Can Support
- Requirement and document review
- Requalification planning
- Product-family selection
- Process and product verification
- Dimensional and material evidence review
- Performance-test review
- Change-history review
- Process-capability review
- Control Plan and FMEA review
- Audit reporting
- Corrective-action follow-up
- Customer-readiness support
What Is a Supplier Requalification Audit?
Supplier requalification is a periodic confirmation that an approved product and its production process continue to meet applicable drawings, specifications, process conditions and customer requirements.
BMW Group’s published purchasing terms specifically reference GS 90018-1, Requalification of Product and Process at Suppliers – General Specifications, and GS 90018-2, Requalification of Product and Process at Suppliers – Process, Checklist.
Mercedes-Benz supplier-quality requirements are managed through customer and entity-specific supplier manuals, portals and controlled documents. The exact requirements can therefore depend on the receiving plant, product programme and current customer documentation.
Challenges We Help Customers Address
- Requalification requirements are not clearly assigned
- Product families and representative parts are not defined
- Annual plans are incomplete or overdue
- Test requirements are not linked with customer specifications
- Dimensional, material and performance evidence is missing
- Process changes are not considered during requalification
- FMEA and Control Plans have not been reviewed
- Process capability results are unavailable or outdated
- External laboratory reports lack traceability
- Requalification records differ between plants
- Findings are not tracked to effective closure
- Teams are unsure which customer-controlled document applies
What Knowledge Kraft Delivers
Knowledge Kraft develops the audit approach around the current customer documents provided by the organization.
- Reviewing current BMW or Mercedes-Benz requirements
- Defining products and processes requiring requalification
- Developing an annual requalification plan
- Establishing sampling and product-family logic
- Preparing customer-specific checklists
- Reviewing drawings and technical specifications
- Reviewing dimensional and material-test results
- Evaluating functional or performance-test evidence
- Reviewing process flow, FMEA and Control Plans
- Reviewing special-characteristic controls
- Evaluating measurement systems and process capability
- Reviewing engineering and manufacturing changes
- Conducting onsite process verification
- Preparing requalification reports
- Developing corrective-action trackers
- Supporting customer-audit readiness
Frequently Asked Questions
It confirms that the approved product and production process continue to meet applicable requirements after series production has begun.
The frequency depends on current customer-specific, contractual and product requirements. It should not be assumed without reviewing the applicable customer document.
BMW states that its internal standards are made available through its partner portal or provided to suppliers through authorized channels.
Not necessarily. Requirements can vary by Mercedes-Benz entity, plant, programme, product and current supplier-quality document.
Not automatically. The required evidence depends on the customer’s requalification criteria, product risk and identified changes.
No. Knowledge Kraft can conduct or support the assessment, but customer approval remains with the authorized customer function.
Yes, provided the grouping and representative-part selection are technically justified and accepted under applicable customer requirements.
The supplier should determine root causes, implement corrective actions and retain evidence of closure and effectiveness.