Special Characteristics
The register of product/process features where variation affects safety, fit, function, or customer satisfaction — the spine that FMEA, control plans and work instructions all reference.
Standards: IATF 16949 §8.2.3.1.2, §8.3.3.3
What it includes (5 capabilities)
- Register of product/process features where variation affects safety, fit, function or customer satisfaction
- Customer-designated and organization-identified sources, each with its own symbol
- Critical to safety / critical to function / significant / standard classification
- Identified / active / obsolete lifecycle with a required obsolescence reason
- One record referenced by FMEA items, control plan rows and work instructions
FMEA (Design & Process)
Design and Process Failure Mode & Effects Analysis: failure modes, effects, causes, current controls, S/O/D risk scoring, and the recommended actions that reduce risk.
Standards: IATF 16949 §8.3.5.1, §8.3.5.2, §10.2.4
What it includes (6 capabilities)
- Design FMEA and Process FMEA on one model, distinguished by kind
- Failure modes, effects, causes and current prevention/detection controls
- Severity / Occurrence / Detection scoring with AIAG/VDA 2019 Action Priority
- Named cross-functional team recorded against the analysis itself
- Recommended actions tracked with revised scores after action
- Approval through the shared approval engine, with supersession on revision
Control Plans
The central automotive manufacturing document: which characteristics are controlled at which process step, how they are measured, how often, and the reaction plan when a measurement falls outside spec.
Standards: IATF 16949 §8.5.1.1, §8.6.1
What it includes (5 capabilities)
- Prototype, pre-launch and production plan types, distinct rather than one document
- Row-level links back to the PFMEA item and special characteristic that justify it
- Control method, sample size and frequency, with a reaction plan per row
- Approval through the shared approval engine; an approved plan is immutable
- Superseded on revision, kept for traceability rather than overwritten
PPAP
The Production Part Approval Process submission package: the fixed 18-element AIAG checklist a customer reviews before approving a part for production, with the customer's own decision recorded on the record.
Standards: IATF 16949 §8.3.4.4, §8.4.3.1, §8.5.6.1
What it includes (5 capabilities)
- Fixed 18-element AIAG checklist, seeded in full on every submission
- Submission level 1–5 and reason for submission
- Department-integrity-checked links to the Control Plan and FMEA behind it
- Submission blocked while any required element is still pending, named explicitly
- Customer decision (approved / interim approval / rejected) recorded directly on the record
SPC (Statistical Process Control)
Control charts for a characteristic at a process step: a baseline run establishes control limits and process capability (Cp/Cpk/Pp/Ppk), then every later sample is judged against that frozen baseline, not today's running average.
Standards: IATF 16949 §8.5.1.1, §9.1.1.1, §9.1.1.2, §9.1.1.3
What it includes (6 capabilities)
- All six AIAG chart types: X̄-R, X̄-S, p, np, c, u
- Control limits computed from a baseline run using AIAG's own constants, then frozen
- Cp/Cpk (within-subgroup) and Pp/Ppk (overall) computed side by side for variable charts
- Automatic baseline-vs-monitoring phasing and out-of-control judgment against the frozen baseline
- A reaction record required against every signalled point
- Optional link to the Control Plan row it verifies
MSA (Measurement Systems Analysis)
Measurement Systems Analysis: whether a gage can actually be trusted to tell two parts apart. A crossed Gage R&R study separates how much of the spread in a reading comes from the part itself versus from the gage and the person using it.
Standards: IATF 16949 §7.1.5.1.1, §8.5.1.1, §9.1.1.2
What it includes (5 capabilities)
- Crossed Gage R&R via the AIAG Average and Range method
- 2–3 named appraisers measuring the same parts multiple times each
- EV / AV / GRR / PV / TV, %GRR of variation and of tolerance, and ndc computed once and frozen
- AIAG-threshold verdict, checked against the manual's own published worked example
- Optional links to the Control Plan row it qualifies and the Asset that is the gage itself
APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning)
The phased launch project that sequences the other automotive core tools through AIAG's five gates. A gate only opens once every required deliverable for the phase behind it is actually done.
Standards: IATF 16949 §8.1.1, §8.3.1.1, §8.3.2.1, §8.3.4
What it includes (5 capabilities)
- AIAG's own 5 phases as a hard-gated sequence: Plan & Define, Product Design, Process Design, Validation, Launch
- 26 fixed deliverables seeded per project across the five phases
- Phase advancement blocked until every required deliverable is complete or marked not applicable
- Deliverables link the real record as evidence — the actual FMEA, Control Plan, PPAP, SPC or MSA study
- A gate is a computed fact, never a status flip
Error-Proofing (Poka-Yoke) Register
The poka-yoke register: a specific installed device that guards one failure mode, with the periodic test-for-failure history that proves it still works — the record behind a PFMEA's own free-text prevention control.
Standards: IATF 16949 §10.2.4
What it includes (4 capabilities)
- Register of installed poka-yoke devices — sensors, fixtures, interlocks, vision systems
- Links to the PFMEA failure mode a device guards and the Control Plan row that names it
- Periodic test-for-failure history with a derived, never hand-set trustworthiness state
- A failed verification requires a recorded reaction before the device reads as trusted again
Warranty Management
The field return: what the customer reported, what analysis actually found — including the No Trouble Found outcome the standard names by name — and how the claim was settled.
Standards: IATF 16949 §10.2.5
What it includes (4 capabilities)
- Field-return register: what was reported, what analysis actually found, how the claim was settled
- No Trouble Found (NTF) kept as its own outcome, not a claim that quietly disappears
- A confirmed defect can raise a Finding straight into the shared RCA/CAPA engine
- Traces back to the material lot or production batch this app actually made, wherever one exists
Product Safety Management
The documented process §4.4.1.2 requires: which characteristics on this part are safety-related, which DFMEA/PFMEA and control plan carry the special approval, and the escape/lessons-learned log that proves it's actually being watched.
Standards: IATF 16949 §4.4.1.2
What it includes (5 capabilities)
- Which characteristics on a part are safety-related, tied to the real Special Characteristic record
- Which DFMEA/PFMEA and Control Plan revision carries the special approval those characteristics require
- Special controls, supply-chain flowdown and training requirements recorded against the plan
- Escape / near-miss / lessons-learned log with a recorded customer-notification decision
- A safety escape can raise a Finding straight from the event description
Contingency Plans
The documented, tested, annually-reviewed plan §6.1.2.3 requires for exactly the risks that could interrupt production to the customer — mirroring emergency preparedness's plan/test/review shape.
Standards: IATF 16949 §6.1.2.3
What it includes (5 capabilities)
- Documented plan per production-interruption risk category — equipment failure, utility loss, supplier interruption, cyber attack, natural disaster and more
- Optional links to the risk register entry, the specific supplier or the specific asset it covers
- A live plan that has never been tested reads as overdue immediately, not merely pending
- Mandatory review clock, at minimum annual, that can raise a Finding when the plan is found inadequate
- A test that finds the plan wanting parks it under review until an actual review records what changed
TPM & Production Tooling
The documented planned-maintenance system §8.5.1.5 requires, and the tool-life/change-management register §8.5.1.6 requires — the last two items on the IATF 16949 gap-closing priority list.
Standards: IATF 16949 §8.5.1.5, §8.5.1.6
What it includes (6 capabilities)
- Documented planned-maintenance system per equipment/process: criticality, spare parts, storage requirements
- A stated objective metric (OEE or whatever applies) with a target, reviewed against a real reading each time
- Production tooling register: dies, molds, jigs, gauges, with current revision level and storage location
- Tool life tracked by cycle count against a limit — a derived, never hand-set current/warning/exceeded state
- Modification history recording the exact revision moved from and to
- Explicit customer-owned tooling identification naming the owning customer