REVIEW PAPER Overview of Automotive Core Tools: Applications and Benefits Jigar A. Doshi 1 • Darshak Desai 2 Received: 12 August 2015 / Accepted: 18 May 2016 Ó The Institution of Engineers (India) 2016 Abstract Continuous improvement of product and process quality is always challenging and creative task in today’s era of globalization. Various quality tools are available and used for the same. Some of them are successful and few of them are not. Considering the complexity in the continuous quality improvement (CQI) process various new techniques are being introduced by the industries, as well as proposed by researchers and academia. Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma is some of the techniques. In recent years, there are new tools being opted by the industry, especially automotive, called as Automotive Core Tools (ACT). The intention of this paper is to review the appli- cations and benefits along with existing research on Automotive Core Tools with special emphasis on contin- uous quality improvement. The methodology uses an extensive review of literature through reputed publica- tions—journals, conference proceedings, research thesis, etc. This paper provides an overview of ACT, its enablers, and exertions, how it evolved into sophisticated method- ologies and benefits used in organisations. It should be of value to practitioners of Automotive Core Tools and to academics who are interested in how CQI can be achieved using ACT. It needs to be stressed here that this paper is not intended to scorn Automotive Core Tools, rather, its purpose is limited only to provide a balance on the pre- vailing positive views toward ACT. Keywords Automotive core tools (ACTs) Á Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) Á Statistical process control (SPC) Á Measurement system analysis (MSA) Á Advance product quality planning (APQP) Á Production part approval process (PPAP) Á Continuous quality improvement (CQI) Introduction Over the years, the journey of quality tools and techniques is full of revelation. Many quality tools and techniques were adopted in the industry and advantages were also gained. The contributions of various quality tools and techniques in the industry growth, especially improvement in product and process quality, is highly cherished despite opinions that they have not brought about their intended result. It is also observed that unless something is mandated by customers, suppliers do not do it. The growth of the automobile industry is highly dependent on the quality and reliability of the product they produced. To make the product of highest quality, it is necessary to maintain the highest quality throughout the supply chain. Considering the same fact, the automobile original equipments manu- facturers (OEMs) are making mandatory for their suppliers improve the product quality by implementing the auto- motive core tools—advance product quality planning (APQP), failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), statis- tical process control (SPC), measurement system analysis (MSA) and production part approval process (PPAP) or achieving ISO/TS 16949 certification and in some cases it is an entry level requirement [1]. For many years, the automotive quality management system standard, ISO/TS & Jigar A. Doshi jigardoshi11@gmail.com 1 R. K. University, Rajkot 360020, Gujarat, India 2 G. H. Patel College of Engineering and Technology, Vallabh Vidyanagar 388120, Gujarat, India 123 J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C DOI 10.1007/s40032-016-0288-z