Introduction to Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)

There are many opportunities for failure in complex supply chains and products, particularly when new products are being introduced. A structured procedure called Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) is used to make sure that new items or procedures satisfy customers.

For many years, APQP has been around in many forms and procedures. Progressive businesses employ Advanced Performance and Quality (APQP), formerly known as Advanced Quality Planning (AQP), to ensure performance and quality via planning. Early in the 1980s, Ford Motor Company released the first Advanced Quality Planning supplier manual. Ford suppliers were assisted by APQP in creating suitable preventive and detection measures for new products that support the corporate quality endeavor. The North American Automotive OEMs jointly developed the APQP method in 1994 and then revised it in 2008 using the lessons they had learnt from Ford Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP).

The goal of Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) is to combine into a single process the common planning tasks needed by all automakers. Suppliers use APQP to promote continuous improvement by successfully validating new goods and procedures.

Within APQP, a wide range of tools and methods are covered. Every tool has potential utility if used at the appropriate time. The term “Core Tools” refers to the tools that have the biggest influence on the success of processes and products. In order to comply with IATF 16949, the Core Tools are anticipated to be utilized. Each of the five fundamental Core Tools—including Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)—is covered in its own set of guidelines. The following are the additional Core Tools:

• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
• Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA)
• Statistical Process Control (SPC)
• Production Part Approval Process (PPAP)
• Design Failure Mode Effective Analysis

What is Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)

An organized method for designing processes and products is called APQP. This framework, which consists of established quality requirements, helps suppliers create products that meet consumer needs.

Product quality planning’s main objective is to make engineering processes more collaborative and communicative. The APQP process makes use of a Cross Functional Team (CFT), which includes members from marketing, product design, procurement, manufacturing, and distribution. The Voice of the Customer (VOC) is transformed into requirements, technical specifications, and unique features with clarity thanks to APQP. The benefits of the product or procedure are built in through prevention.

Early detection of change, whether purposeful or unintentional, is supported by APQP. These adjustments may lead to innovative, exciting new products that enhance client satisfaction. When improperly handled, they result in failure and unhappy customers. Using tools and techniques to reduce the risks connected to changes in a new product or process is the main goal of APQP.

Why Implement Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)

The never-ending quest of continuous improvement is supported by APQP. Eighty percent of the APQP process consists of the first three components, which concentrate on planning and prevention. The fourth and fifth portions, which emphasize validation and proof, provide support for the remaining 20% of APQP. In order to create standard work and procedures, an organization might expressly share learnings and offer comments in the fifth part. Among the advantages of APQP are:

• Allocating resources by distinguishing the important few things from the unimportant many
• Encourage the early detection of change
• Intentional: changes made with the intention of adding value for the client
• Incidental (customer usage, deterioration, environments, and interfaces)
• Refrain from making modifications after the fact by foreseeing and averting failure.
• On-time, high-quality item at the best price
• Several choices for reducing the danger when discovered sooner
• increased capacity for change validation and verification
• Better coordination between Process and Product Design
• Better Design for Assembly and Manufacturing (DFM/A)
• Earlier in the process, less expensive options were chosen
• Tribal knowledge advancement, standard work creation and utilization, and legacy acquisition and reuse

When to Apply Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)

APQP makes it easier for the company or customer and the supply chain to communicate. As the process progresses, requirements that convert into more exact specifications are made clearer and broken down into more detail. APQP has two applications:

1. New Product Introduction

Instead of emphasizing failure, APQP adds an emphasis on risk to product development procedures. Instead of waiting for a test to fail or, worse, for the client to assume the risk, this enables the team to address the risk. In order to address all facets of product and process design, service, process quality control, packaging, and continuous improvement, APQP uses risk-based methods. Every APQP application can differ from an earlier one depending on the amount of fresh material, modifications to readily available technology, or failure history.

2. Product or Process Change (Post Release):

When a product or process is changed without consulting Product Development, APQP monitors the change and ensures that any risks are effectively managed by averting issues that may arise.

How to Implement Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)

Five concurrent phases and one pre-planning stage make up the APQP. The Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle is frequently used to highlight how a process that once started never ends. It was W. Edwards Deming who popularized PDSA. Every segment is in line with analytical risk identification methods and instruments. It is preferable to identify risk throughout the development of products and processes rather than late failure. Below is a definition of the APQP Sections:

Section 4: Product and Process Validation

Section 4 focuses on validating the process quality and volume capabilities. This section provides an introduction to Process Capability Studies, Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), and Statistical Process Control (SPC). Production can start as soon as the Product Part Approval Process (PPAP) is approved.

Section 5: Feedback Assessment and Corrective Action

The lessons learned from the continuous manufacturing process, RPN reduction, internal and external corrective measures, the Eight Disciplines of Problem Solving (8D), and gathering relevant data for later use are all covered in Section 5.

How to Develop a Advance Product Quality Plan (APQP)

The development of a Product Quality Plan (PQP) is the first step in the APQP process. The PQP might be different for every development. A core group of staff members will look over the concept design, process and product assumptions, project goals as a whole, and previous failures during the planning phase. Following the collection of this data, the core team chooses tools from each section according to the potential value they will provide to the discussion of failure avoidance. To improve the effectiveness of program and project management, the PQP is connected to the project timing plan. The selection of tools and approaches is contingent upon the potential risks generated by both planned and unintentional changes. Finding undiscovered risks is a good thing. Every danger is measured, and countermeasures are created.