Is your customer insisting on VDA in the US a German OEM? German OEM's (Continental, VW group, BMW group, Siemens, Bosch...) usually insist on each and every one of their sites following VDA.
My client is a tier2 American plant, with a German parent company. Their customer is also a tier2 American division with a German parent company. The OE customers in this story are all OE's - all the Detroit and German OE's.
I just did an onsite visit with them to review this issue, and have a clearer understanding. They were not being asked to certify to VDA (which would not make sense), but rather, the customer performed a customer audit
using VDA 6.3. That makes more sense.
However, the customer sprung this on my client. They are certified to TS-16949, in good standing, with pretty good performance. certainly above average. The customer just walked in, took out VDA 6.3, and starting firing questions!
NOTE: If you are a
supply chain auditor, and this is
your tactic, IT IS WRONG! Your supplier is not certified to VDA. They were not asked to review this audit scheme. You don't just spring it on them, and then rake them over the coals. You might as well audit them to the Russian Nuclear Standards...! They can't be held liable for something they have not even implemented.
So, now, instead of us doing a planned review of VDA 6.3, identifying items to add to the QMS, and doing an orderly implementation, we are doing it backwards, via corrective actions!
This is the wrong approach, counter=productive, disruptive and costly. If you want your suppliers to implement things, inform them, and give them time to implement it in an orderly manner. You are violating the very intent of ISO/TS with this approach!