IDREMA-process: Identification of reference market for defect parts routing

In the automotive industry the number of reports concerning large-scale product recalls of vehicles is increasing (cf. [1]) and thereby alarming not only affected but also future customers. Therefor the quality management of major automobile groups is facing an increasing challenge. The goal of a quick fault detection and removal is endangered by an increasing product complexity, an expansion of the international distribution into markets with highly divergent requirement profiles and a restricted access of defect parts from various countries. In order not to fall short of the objectives in the future, a concept for the "Worldwide Routing of Defected Parts in the Automotive Industries" (WORPA) is being developed. The idea is to deduce the fitting control option for providing the optimum analytical batch. Due to transport costs, customs duty issues, and the lack of necessary infrastructure, a worldwide access to every market with defect parts is neither available nor economically justifiable. Therefore it is common practice to define a market as a so-called reference market. This market should be representative of occurring failure modes depending on several boundary conditions such as climate, load profiles, stretches of way or fuel quality. Traditionally, the reference market is contractually fixed to be the domestic producer market. In an economically dynamic environment like the automotive industry, sales markets are continually shifting to countries with differing requirement profiles (e. g. China; fuel quality) and potential new failure modes. Thus, it is necessary to undertake a scientific review of the previously axiomatic selection of the reference market. In this article the "Identification of Reference Market" (IDREMA) process - as a part of the WORPA concept - is introduced and distinguished from other existing systems. The IDREMA process is a means to determine a reference market in a structured procedure. For this purpose, rudimentary prerequisites as well as qualitative and quantitative impacts concerning occuring failure modes are considered. The statistical analysis is based on the sampling range of dependable methods of testing. A synthesized practical example (Case Study Assembly Module) illustrates the way of proceeding.