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.