AIAG launched its free, online Core Tools Self-Assessment (CTSA) in 2012 to help individuals measure their competency in the four Automotive Quality Core Tools: APQP/PPAP, FMEA, MSA and SPC. The CTSA is a timed, open book self-assessment available in nine different languages (i.e., Brazilian Portuguese, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish – Latin America). These nine translations have allowed 18,402 individuals from 89 different countries and 3,215 different companies to complete 22,561 self-assessments since 2012.

In 2020, AIAG experienced an increase in the number of self-assessments completed across key automotive regions worldwide, with five of the six major automotive regions witnessing an all-time high in CTSA completion. This increase started in April 2020 but jumped significantly in May 2020 with AIAG’s launch of the Industry Restart Package for Quality.

AIAG’s Industry Restart Package for Quality is free to all and offers free access to select Quality Core Tools eDocuments and eLearning through June 2021 – AIAG membership not required. The key to accessing these free resources is to complete the (also free) CTSA, which provides confidential scores to help users determine areas for improvement.

In 2020, AIAG observed a decrease in the average score of each Quality Core Tool, which is not necessarily bad for the industry because it identifies which Core Tools require improvement. Utilization of AIAG’s currently free online resources allows the individual to access these eDocuments and eLearning to help boost their skill set. After using these resources, AIAG recommends retaking the CTSA to identify competency gains made in the Quality Core Tools, as well as identify the next Core Tool for improvement.

If your organization would like to use the CTSA to improve employee competency, AIAG can provide CTSA data and analysis upon request, so the anonymous data may be used to determine organizational training needs. To arrange this data analysis, please email quality@aiag.org.

For more information on the CTSA and the Industry Restart Package for Quality, please click here.