Process Engineering
PFMEA & Control Plan — AIAG-VDA 2019 Harmonized Standard
Action Priority scoring replaces RPN. Cross-functional team sign-off is enforced, not advisory. Control plans derive automatically from your PFMEA. Management of Change notification rules handle Ford Q1, GM SQ-IPPM, and Stellantis CSR automatically.
Action Priority replaces RPN
The AIAG-VDA 2019 harmonized FMEA handbook replaced Risk Priority Number (RPN) with Action Priority (AP). AP is determined from a 1000-cell S×O×D lookup matrix and returns High, Medium, or Low — not a number that auditors struggle to threshold. Qontiv generates AP scores natively; RPN fields are read-only for legacy data import only. Stellantis CSR June 2025 requires AP-only scoring for new FMEAs.
AIAG-VDA 7-step process
The PFMEA workflow follows the AIAG-VDA 7-step structure:
- Planning & Preparation
- Structure Analysis (Process Flow)
- Function Analysis
- Failure Analysis (Failure Mode, Effect, Cause)
- Risk Analysis (S, O, D → AP)
- Optimization (Actions → Revised AP)
- Results Documentation (Approval, Supersession)
Cross-functional team enforcement
PFMEA approval requires signatures from at least 3 distinct disciplines: Quality, Process Engineering, Design Engineering, Manufacturing, Maintenance, or Other. This is a hard blocker — not an advisory recommendation. The AIAG-VDA Step 7 requirement for cross-functional review is enforced programmatically. Approval is blocked until the discipline roster is satisfied.
PFMEA state machine
Draft → InReview → Approved → Superseded. Supersession is automatic
when a successor PFMEA (linked via SupersedesPfmeaId) reaches Approved.
Both the predecessor and successor transition atomically in a single database transaction.
There is no gap state where neither is Approved.
Auto-derived control plans
The Control Plan Deriver scans PFMEA rows with Classification = Critical or
Significant, or detection-control keyword matches, and creates control plan
characteristics automatically. This is idempotent — re-running derivation doesn't
duplicate characteristics. Manual characteristics can be added independently.
Failure mode library
A tenant-scoped failure mode library surfaces suggestions ranked by operation-type match, text similarity, and historical usage count. Engineers fill PFMEAs faster and consistently — the same failure mode terminology appears across related processes.
Management of Change (MoC)
Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) carry MoC fields: notification status, retroactive analysis scope, risk re-evaluation trigger, and validation plan. When an ECO is approved, customer-specific notification rules fire automatically based on the change type and affected customer codes — Ford Q1 §3.4, GM SQ-IPPM §5.3, Stellantis CSR baselines are pre-configured. Retroactive impact analysis walks lot genealogy to identify units built against the superseded revision.
Regulatory mapping
| Standard | Clause | Qontiv feature |
|---|---|---|
| IATF 16949 | §6.1.2.4 | PFMEA as risk analysis vehicle |
| IATF 16949 | §8.5.6 | Control of changes (MoC) |
| AIAG-VDA 2019 | 7-step | AP scoring, cross-functional team |
| Stellantis CSR | Jun 2025 | AP-only scoring requirement |
| Ford Q1 | §3.4 | MoC customer notification rule |
| GM SQ-IPPM | §5.3 | MoC customer notification rule |
| AS9100 Rev D | §6.1.2 | Risk and opportunity analysis |
Action Priority, not RPN — ready for your next audit.
AIAG-VDA harmonized PFMEA with auto-derived Control Plan, built into the MES.