The MSA is a requirement of all car makers. All the measurement devices to be used in the design and production of parts or services for the automotive industry, must be proven capable first. Especially for new product development, the MSA is an important element of the apqp process.
The measurement system analysis is a set of techniques to evaluate the quality of a measurement system. Its goal is to help us determine the needs/ characteristics of the measurement equipment, to evaluate its adequacy for the intended use and to judge whether the system can continuously provide reliable information about the feature or characteristic measured.
The measurement system analysis, as core tool, is used globally and its principles and purposes are standard. However, when it comes to focus points and calculations methods, there are two different models. The Automotive Industry Action Group in the USA or AIAG and the Association of the Automotive Industry in Germany, the VDA, have compiled, prepared and published their own version of the MSA.
The manual of the AIAG is called simply “MSA” and the manual of the VDA is called “VDA 5 Measurement System Capability assessment”. The MSA and VDA 5 manuals have become the most important information sources for the measurement system capability assessment. Both books and methods are terrific. Both use similar techniques but, in some areas, there are differences.
The book is a compilation of all MSA analysis techniques, explained from a practical perspective. This site is its complement. We aim to offer you an easy-to-undestand explanation about the MSA techniques and provide you with a practical approach for the data treatment and calculations methods. We cover both models, the MSA and the VDA 5.
For us, the MSA is the name that summarizes all the techniques, regardless of the origin. When we refer to a specific model, we will refer to “MSA” to describe the AIAG version and to “VDA” to the describe the german one.
Please be aware that our goal is to provide assistance and an easy approach to MSA. This is not a replacement for the officials manuals, nor a recipe for the automatic success or implementation. Whenever possible you should refer to the official documents and your customer requirements.
Quality in the automotive industry.
The MSA manual of the AIAG gives guidelines for different forms to assess the quality of the measurement systems. In this site you will find some information and tips about the following tools:
The VDA volume 5 is the manual that provides guidelines on the measurement system capability assessment. The general methods are similar to the AIAG but, with a focus on the measurement uncertainty for the assessment. In this site you will find some information and tips about the following tools: