You have certainly come across suppliers who supply German automakers: VDA recommendations. They serve the purpose of standardization and are particularly relevant for suppliers when it comes to data exchange and documents accompanying goods.
The German Association of the Automotive Industry is a lobby group for the German automotive industry. Its aim is to represent the interests of its members vis-à-vis politicians, the media and other groups. The association has around 600 member companies. Members work together in various committees and working groups to find answers to key issues.
As the central association for the automotive industry in Germany, the VDA has set itself the task of "ensuring the right framework conditions so that companies can successfully bring their products to market. This includes efforts to define industry standards and norms.
In addition to national and international legally defined regulations, for example on security topics, there are also voluntary guidelines and recommendations. They serve to standardize processes and file formats. The VDA recommendations are often called VDA guidelines, although strictly speaking they are only recommendations. No one is obliged to adhere to these guidelines. Even automobile manufacturers who use VDA recommendations often modify the specifications.
Theoretically, the recommendations are not only relevant for the automotive industry. Other industries can also use the VDA publications, for example medical technology or even the electronics industry.
In terms of content, the recommendations deal with very different topics. They have such nice names as "Elastomer resistance - Determination of behavior against test oils" (VDA 675-301) or "Assessment recommendation for personal protection against low-frequency magnetic fields in motor vehicles" (VDA 460-100). All recommendations with numbers between 4900 and 4999 revolve only around data exchange in the supply chain and with papers accompanying goods.
Standardization pursues a simple goal: optimized processes based on proven specifications. Why should an automotive manufacturer develop its own specifications in the trial process when it works faster, more efficiently and more sustainably with the help of standards?
The Advantages of the Automobile Association's recommendations primarily concern the automakers themselves:
Optimization of processes to reduce costs and use resources more effectively.
Establishment of a uniform quality standard in the supply chain.
Clear overview of processes to identify potential bottlenecks or errors at an early stage.
Ensure delivery reliability to increase customer satisfaction and retention.
Furthermore, car manufacturers are not bound to use or follow VDA recommendations. They therefore have full flexibility in how they want to design their processes.
However, this does not apply to the suppliers. That's why they are also the ones who have to struggle the most with the disadvantages. In hardly any other industry can customers make such precise specifications for their own supplies as in the automotive industry. Suppliers are confronted with a very large number of specifications and there is hardly any sign of standardization here:
Since the VDA recommendations are not fixed regulations, automotive manufacturers can interpret them quite differently. For example, Volkswagen does use VDA 4939, which contains specifications for the design and content of shipment documents. Nevertheless, VW's so-called user manual with all supplements and deviations is a PDF file with just under 30 pages.
Even if a supplier supplies several car manufacturers with the same VDA specifications, the implementation can vary greatly in detail. Even with such small details as individual specifications on shipment documents, this often means that a supplier has to set up a separate shipment document for each individual customer in order to be able to adhere precisely to the individual specifications.
The basic distinction that the VDA makes is the cost: some guidelines or recommendations can be obtained free of charge, while others must be paid for.
Furthermore, the list of different topics seems endless. It is about quality assurance, materials, processes or even key figures. Some examples can be found in the text above. You can get an overview on the VDA page: https://www.vda.de/de/aktuelles/publikationen
The VDA recommendations, which are subject to a charge, can be found in the VDA Webshop: https://webshop.vda.de/VDA/de/vda-empfehlungen
Attention: The so-called VDA standard is a different story. There is a DIN standard for measuring trunk volumes that is based on a VDA recommendation that is now decades old. This DIN standard (70020) specifies how the volume of a trunk is to be measured using measuring cuboids measuring 200 mm x 100 mm x 50 mm. Colloquially, the term VDA standard has become established for this. The validity of this "VDA standard" is repeatedly questioned, for example by the ADAC.
The most relevant recommendations for suppliers are those dealing with the exchange of data between suppliers and automotive manufacturers. This applies to all recommendations with the numbers 4900 to 4999, although some of them are no longer current or have become obsolete.
The VDA provides a list of these recommendations with the respective indication of validity: List of recommendations on supply chain data exchange and papers accompanying goods (4900-4999).
In addition, other VDA recommendations are also important. For example, VDA recommendation 5011 deals with the "Evaluation of logistical delivery performance". Among other things, this recommendation contains a calculation formula for the key figure delivery reliability. Automobile manufacturers also use it to evaluate the delivery reliability of their own suppliers. Even if the supplier does not have to fulfill any special requirements in the case of this VDA, it is advisable to take a closer look at this VDA in order to know all the criteria with which an automotive manufacturer evaluates its suppliers.
Here you will find an excerpt of VDA recommendations used by certain car manufacturers:
