Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)

Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) is a structured method of defining and establishing the steps necessary to ensure that a product satisfies the customer. Effective product quality planning depends on a company’s top management’s commitment to the effort required in meeting customer specifications.

APQP serves as a guide in the development process and also a standard way to share results between suppliers and automotive companies. APQP specifies three phases:

  • Development,
  • Industrialization and
  • Product Launch.

Through these phases 23 main topics will be monitored. These 23 topics will be all completed before the production is started.

The APQP topics cover such aspects as:

  • design robustness,
  • design testing and
  • specification compliance,
  • production process design,
  • quality inspection standards,
  • process capability,
  • production capacity,
  • product packaging,
  • product testing and
  • operator training plan, plus other requirements.

APQP focuses on:

  • Up-front quality planning
  • Determining if customers are satisfied by evaluating the output and supporting continual improvement

APQP consists of five phases:

  • Plan and Define Program
  • Product Design and Development Verification
  • Process Design and Development Verification
  • Product and Process Validation and Production Feedback
  • Launch, Assessment & Corrective Action

There are five major activities:

  • Planning
  • Product Design and Development
  • Process Design and Development
  • Product and Process Validation
  • Production

The APQP process has seven major elements:

  • Understanding the needs of the customer
  • Proactive feedback and corrective action
  • Designing within the process capabilities
  • Analyzing and mitigating failure modes
  • Verification and validation
  • Design reviews
  • Control special or critical characteristics.