Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) / Product Part Approval Process (PPAP)

Advanced Product Quality Planning

Advance Product Quality Planning (APQP) is a Pro-active and structured method of defining and establishing the steps necessary to assure that a product satisfies the customer.

Goals & Benefits of APQP

The goals of product quality planning are:

  • Effective communications with everyone involved.
  • On-time completion of all required steps
  • Minimal or no quality problems.
  • Minimal product launch quality risks.

The expected benefits of APQP:

  • Resources are directed toward customer satisfaction.
  • Early identification of changes required.
  • Avoid late changes.
  • A quality product is provided on time at the lowest cost.

Fundamentals Of APQP

  • Process owner for APQP project
  • Cross functional team
[ Members from engineering, manufacturing, material control,   purchasing, quality, sales, field service, Suppliers, and  customers, as appropriate ]
  • Select a project team leader (TL can be rotated, if required).
  • Define roles & responsibilities of each area represented.
  • Identify customers - internal & external.
  • Define customer requirements (use of QFD recommended).
  • Review the team - need for additional disciplines, individuals   and / or suppliers.
  • Understand customer expectations.
  • Feasibility of proposed design.
  • Identify costs, timings and constraints that must be considered.
  • Determine assistance required from the customer.
  • Identify documentation process or method.
  • Interactions of APQP team with customer and other teams in the organization.
  • Communication of all Requirements and development skills to fulfill customer needs and expectations.
  • Irrespective of Initiation by customer, an Organization has obligation to implement APQP and expect same from its suppliers.
  • A process where CFT strives for a common goal: replaces sequential series of activities by parallel activities to expedite the introduction of Quality products.
  • Written description of the systems for controlling the parts and processes – [ Prototype, Pre-launch, Production ]
  • Documentation and planning for Resolution of product design and/or processing concerns. Disciplined problem solving methods recommended.  
  • Development of timing plan precedes all activities.
  • Type of product, complexity and customer expectations to be considered.
  • All team members should agree with the plan.
  • Timing  plan should list Tasks, Assignments and/or other events, actions and start & completion dates.
  • Provides Format for tracking progress and setting meeting agendas.
  • Provision for recording actual start & completion dates to facilitate status reporting.
  • Problem prevention and simultaneous engineering activities to be implemented to complete activities well within customer time line.

PRODUCTION PART APPROVAL PROCESS

Production part approval process (PPAP) is used in the automotive supply chain for establishing confidence in component suppliers and their production processes, by means of demonstrating that : “ all customer engineering design record and specification requirements are properly understood by the supplier and that the process has the potential to produce product consistently meeting these requirements during an actual production run at the quoted production rate.” The PPAP process is designed to demonstrate that the component supplier has developed their design and production process to meet the client's requirements, minimizing the risk of failure by effective use of APQP. Requests for part approval must therefore be supported in official PPAP format and with documented results when needed.