Companies that have implemented ISO/TS16949 may use Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) to ensure that their products and production processes meet the market requirements and customer expectations. The production Part Approval Process provides client organizations with the evidence required to show that – “All customer engineering design record and specification requirements are properly understood by the supplier and that the process has the potential to consistently produce products meeting those requirements during an actual production run”.
This 2-Day course shows suppliers how to compile the evidence required during the development process and explains how client organizations can use the information supplied to gain confidence in their suppliers.
APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) and PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) are methods used in the automotive and some other industries. Their purpose is to ensure that the supplier understands the customer’s requirements and is capable of providing the required quality and quantity of product on time.
APQP sets out a clear path for planning, implementing and verifying a process.
The APQP process has five phases. What phases a company has to complete depends on what they do. There are checklists provided in the back of the guide published by AIAG that are very helpful in keeping on the right path. They provide the organization and consistency needed to ensure a successful product and process launch. If I needed to boil the whole idea down to a few words, it would be “Matching the voice of the supplier’s process to the voice of the customer, VOP = VOC”.
PPAP is the hard proof that the supplier understood the customer’s requirements. It principally involves gathering all the data and information that was generated throughout the APQP stage and presenting in prescribed method and format to the customer for review and, hopefully, approval. The customer reviews the PPAP submission and renders one of the three possible decisions:
- Product and process approved as submitted
- Interim approval with a request for additional information on samples
- Not approved - start over