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17
Supplier’s Perspective of APQP
Overview
As we mentioned in Chapter 1, the principles of advanced product quality
planning (APQP) are very important from a customer’s perspective because
they assure timing, capacity, and quality characteristics being within the
necessary requirements. In this chapter, we will focus on the requirements
of APQP from the supplier’s perspective.
Traditionally, APQP has been misunderstood and taken seriously very late
in the process of launching. Suppliers do not take advantage of the posi-
tive benets that a system such as APQP can deliver and the many value-
added goals that it presents when it is viewed as a process rather than a
single tool to be checked in a list of multiple activities just because “the
customer says so.” APQP is a structured method of dening and establish-
ing the steps necessary to assure that a product satises the customer. The
goal then is to facilitate communication with everyone involved to make
sure that all required steps are completed on time. It is imperative that any
form of quality planning in any organization not be viewed as a system to
be used by certain individuals and for specic situations but rather as a pro-
cess that encompasses all aspects of a program, that is, from conception to
completion. This commitment to planning for quality applies to everyone
involved—from management to operators.
Effective advanced quality planning depends on a company’s top man-
agement commitment to achieving customer satisfaction. In essence, this
effectiveness is a culture change and a mindset that calls for continual
improvement and waste reduction.
For a typical supplier, the benets of APQP are
• Promotion of early identication of required changes
• Avoidance of late changes
• Provision of a quality product on time at acceptable cost to satisfy
the customer
258 Quality Assurance
• Provision of uniformity and standardization in the process of com-
municating and reporting any issues or problems to the customer
APQP Initiatives
The APQP initiative is important in that it demonstrates the continuing
efforts of both customer and supplier to become quality leaders in their
respective industries. It does this by providing value-added goals explicitly
focused on all pertinent activities to avoid concerns rather than focusing on
the results in the product or service throughout all the phases, until delivery
of the product or service to the customer.
It is this reason that the deliverables discussed earlier must be clear and
understood by all concerned. In fact, to make the point, we suggest review-
ing Appendix I. The appendix is a typical detailed expectation list of a site
assessment by the customer to the supplier’s facility. By understanding the
value-added goals, the supplier will benet immensely because they add to
better quality, lower cost, productivity increases, and timely delivery. Some
of the value-added goals might become instrumental to
• Reinforce the organization’s focus on CI in quality, cost, and delivery
• Provide the ability to look at an entirely new program as a single
unit
• Be prepared for every step in the creation of the product
• Identify where the most amount of effort must be centered
• Create a new product with efciency and quality
• Provide a better method for balancing the targets for quality, cost,
and timing
• Deploy targets that use detailed practical deliverables within spe-
cic timing schedule requirements
• Provide a tool (methodology) for all concerned to follow-up all plan-
ning processes
• Provide consistency and stabilization results in cost improvement
opportunities including reduction of special sample test trials
Understanding the program requirements makes it easier for the supplier
to fulll the expectations of the customer, but it also provides the following
advantages to the customer.
• Claries the expectations early on in the relationship
• Focuses on the deadlines to make sure they are met
259Supplier’s Perspective of APQP
• Tracks special characteristics (critical and signicant)
• Evaluates and avoids quality, cost, and timing risks
• Claries any bottlenecks and concerns for all appropriate product
specications using a common control plan
APQP Reporting
It is the responsibility of the supplier to do the APQP and appropriately
report the status to the customer. The frequency of reporting depends on
the program and the milestone. Early in the program, the reporting may
be once a quarter, but as the time gets closer to Job#1, the frequency may
be weekly.
The initiation process depends on the cross-functional team deciding that
APQP will be used to track the program. Once this step is agreed on, APQP
is initiated. The lead and support teams are made aware of their roles in com-
pleting each of the elements. The lead responsibility is required to establish
the layout for each APQP element.
As the program moves along the timing and specic milestones approach,
reviews are conducted to discuss the milestones and whether these
milestones are met. Based on these reviews, a decision is made as to the
status of the APQP process. This assessment is reected in the coding of
three colors, that is, green, yellow, and red. If a program is assessed at green,
it proceeds to the next step. If a program is assessed at yellow or red, it pro-
ceeds to the next step, which is risk assessment. It is the lead’s responsibility
for each element to provide the appropriate and applicable documentation
for all supporting activities.
The denition of the designations of green, yellow, and red is very spe-
cic and must be used accurately at all times. The classic denitions of the
colors are
• Green is the best possible evaluation for an APQP element. A green
or “G” is given before the program milestone date to indicate the
element will meet the program milestone and will meet all qual-
ity expectations. A “G” rating given on the program milestone date
indicates the element is complete and meets all quality expectations.
• A yellow or “Y” rating is given prior to the program milestone to
indicate that an element might not meet the milestone or quality
expectations. To be a “Y,” a recovery plan must be in place for the
element. A Y rating indicates a need for program management atten-
tion. A Y rating can only be given to an element prior to the program
milestone date.
260 Quality Assurance
• Red is the worst possible evaluation for an APQP element. A red
or “R” rating is given prior to the program milestone date to indi-
cate that an element will not meet the program need date or quality
expectations and has no recovery plan as to the specic milestone.
R signies the program is at risk and needs immediate management
attention. Any element rated R at its program need date must carry
the R rating through the remainder of the program. Completion of
the element after the program need date does not change the timing
status of the element. In other words, the element is late and must
remain red. To reect improvements of a red element status after
missing the milestone date, progress to green will be shown in the
next milestone review.
Fundamental Elements of APQP
In the automotive industry, there are several (generic) elements in the APQP
process and they are published in AIAG (2008). Here we focus on key items
of which the supplier must be aware and complete them.
We begin with the APQP focus, which is twofold:
• Up-front quality planning; the earlier the planning, the less the risk
of failure
• Identifying key processes so that customers are satised by evaluat-
ing and accepting the output; determining appropriate and appli-
cable support for continual improvement
To deliver on these two focus items, the APQP process is divided into ve
phases. They are
1. Plan and dene program
2. Product design and development verication
3. Process design and development verication
4. Product and process validation and production feedback
5. Launch, assessment, and corrective action
Within these phases, there are ve major activities:
1. Planning
2. Product design and development
3. Process design and development
261Supplier’s Perspective of APQP
4. Product and process validation
5. Production
Out of all the key items in the APQP, seven major elements stand out.
They are
1. Understanding the needs of the customer
2. Having a proactive feedback and corrective action
3. Designing within the process capabilities
4. Analyzing and mitigating failure modes
5. Having appropriate and applicable verication and validation
6. Having design reviews
7. Having a process to control special (critical and signicant)
characteristics
By now, you may feel somewhat confused because of all the divisions
we just covered. The reason for all these divisions is to make sure that the
supplier understands why the APQP is so important for them to make sure
they complete on time and without any glitches. To demonstrate further the
importance of each element, we will provide specic denitions that split
each element into six separate areas. These areas are
• Denition: Identies the requirements for the element.
• Expectations: Denes the requirements for the element. This usually
is given to the supplier by the customer.
• Lead responsibility: Denes and identies the activities responsible
for lead reporting. Activities that all others will support in comple-
tion of the element.
• Support function: Denes and identies the support activities that
will provide input to and assist the lead responsibility.
• Timing: Identies the initial and nal milestone timing for the
element. It is worth mentioning here that although the customer
initiates the boundary of the timing milestones, the supplier con-
rms the material delivery date (MDD). Therefore, it is impera-
tive that the supplier understands and agrees to the timetable.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the supplier to completely
understand the timing plan for each element and the supplier
should be able to identify the period of each phase. If the supplier
disagrees with the MDD, let the customer be aware as soon as
possible.
• Deliverables: Indicates the items that must be completed during three
separate time frames for the element. The three time frames are
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