Compliance
Organizer:
- Organized by
-
-
Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
-
Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
Advanced product quality planning (APQP) is a framework of procedures and techniques used to develop products in industry, particularly in the automotive industry. It is similar to the concept of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS).
According to the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), the purpose of APQP is to produce a product quality plan which will support development of a product or service that will satisfy the customer. It is the process employed by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and their suppliers for their product development systems.
Why Implement Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
APQP supports the never ending pursuit of continuous improvement. The first three sections of APQP focus on planning and prevention and make up 80% of the APQP process. The fourth and fifth sections support the remaining 20% of APQP and focus on validation and evidence. The fifth section specifically allows an organization to communicate learning and provide feedback to develop standard work and processes.
Advanced product quality planning is a process developed in the late 1980s by a commission of experts who gathered around the ‘Big Three’ of the US automobile industry: Ford, GM and Chrysler.
When to Apply Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
APQP facilitates communication between the supply chain and the organization / customer. Requirements that translate into more detailed specifications are clarified and decomposed to more detail as the process continues.
Representatives from the three automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the Automotive Division of American Society for Quality Control (ASQC)* created the Supplier Quality Requirement Task Force for developing a common understanding on topics of mutual interest within the automotive industry.
How to Implement Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
APQP is comprised of one pre-planning stage and five concurrent phases. Once begun, the process never ends and is often illustrated in the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle. PDSA was made famous by W. Edwards Deming. Each section is aligned with analytical risk discovery tools and techniques. Finding risk in product and process development is more desirable than finding late failure.
This commission invested five years to analyze the then-current automotive development and production status in the US, Europe and especially in Japan. At the time, the success of the Japanese automotive companies was starting to be remarkable in the US market.
APQP Inputs and Outputs by Section
Each section of APQP depends on risk information that has previously been discovered. The information sharing assures a flow of logical risk discovery and mitigation.
There are 5 sections to APQP:
Section 1: Plan and Define
Links customer expectations, wants, needs and desires to requirements.
Section 2: Product Design and Development
Design verification through prototypes and testing.
Section 3: Process Design and Development
Evaluate manufacturing techniques and measurement methods that will be used to bring the design engineer’s vision into reality.
Section 4: Product and Process Validation
Analytical validation of the process quality and expected demand capacity from the customer.
Section 5: Feedback Assessment and Corrective Action
Review results from ongoing manufacturing process and improve the process, feedback loop back to design team.
-
0 Replies
Sorry, there were no replies found.
