The Relationship between the Control Plan, Audit Checklist and RACI Matrix in a Proactive Quality Assurance System at the Early Stages of Electric Vehicle Development

In the early stages of product development, especially in the automotive industry, quality assurance is shifting from reactive control to a proactive defect prevention system. Within the framework of the IATF 16949 standard [1] and the Core Tools methodology [4], three interrelated tools play a key role: the Control Plan, the Audit Checklist, and the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI). This article presents a scientifi c justifi cation for their synergistic interaction. Based on an analysis of AIAG (2024) [2] guidelines, VDA, and practices from leading OEMs (GM, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi), it is shown that the RACI system provides organizational clarity, the control plan provides procedural risk specifi cation, and the audit checklist provides systematic verifi cation of implementation. The integration of these tools creates a closed-loop «plan-do-check-improve» cycle, which, according to AIAG research [2], reduces the cost of defects by 40–70%. The results are applicable to any industry with high reliability requirements.