APQP – Advanced Product Quality Planning

Description

Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) is a structured method for defining and establishing the steps required to ensure that a product satisfies the customer and meets all performance and quality requirements. The objective of product quality planning is to facilitate communication with all involved parties to ensure that all necessary steps are completed on time. Effective product quality planning depends on management’s commitment to the efforts required to achieve customer satisfaction.

Some of the benefits of product quality planning include:

• Directing resources to satisfy the customer.

• Promoting early identification of required changes.

The purpose of this manual is to communicate standardized best practices for Advanced Product Quality Planning to organizations (internal and external) and suppliers, jointly developed by Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. This manual provides guidelines intended to develop a product quality plan that supports the development of a product or service that will satisfy the customer.

With a focus on the “why” behind the “what” and the “when,” the 3rd edition of the APQP manual addresses how the introduction of new products can be successfully implemented and improved, with updates reflecting agile product management and new sections covering purchasing, change management, APQP program metrics, risk assessment plans, and gated management.

The 2nd (previous) edition of APQP and Control Plan has now been separated into individual manuals. The decoupling of the two manuals will facilitate faster updates as systems continue to evolve. Factors driving the need for this update include changes to other reference documents that require APQP to remain relevant. Examples include new terminology and concepts aligned with IATF 16949, the AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook, and other Core Tools manuals from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

An additional requirement for a “safe launch” has been introduced into the production Control Plan, to be applied during the initial launch into series production. Appropriate references to customer-specific requirements are provided without reproducing the full text. This manual continues to provide general guidance to ensure that Advanced Product Quality Planning is implemented in accordance with customer requirements. There are no specific instructions on how to complete each individual APQP task.