If you have worked in a manufacturing environment you may have heard of the acronym PPAP, a process primarily used in the automotive industry. As the manufacturing industry becomes increasingly competitive and risk averse, more companies have begun to use the PPAP methodology in order to consistently provide high-quality products year after year, to maintain an advantage over the competition. So, what is PPAP and how can your company, regardless of the industry, enjoy its benefit in order to maintain a distinct competitive edge?

ORIGINS AND PURPOSE

PPAP, or Production Part Approval Process, was developed by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) in 1993 to create a “standard method” as part of the Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) process. PPAP promotes the use of common production engineering principals, requirements, terminology and forms to document a project from design conception through full scale production manufacturing. More specifically, PPAP was developed to provide objective evidence and verification to ensure that a component supplier has built their production processes in-line with the client’s requirements and specifications to minimize or eliminate the risk of product failure.

THE PURPOSE OF THE PPAP IS TO:

• Ensure that a supplier can meet a customer’s manufacturing and quality requirements for their products.
• Prove, with objective evidence, that the supplier fulfilled all customer specifications and engineering drawing requirements.
• Verify that the supplier can successfully manufacture the customer’s product using their established and approved manufacturing process.

AOHONG PPAP PROCESS TODAY

 The Production Part Approval Process has expanded into many other industries including agricultural, commercial, and food & beverage manufacturing.

Aohong uses the PPAP methodology for most of our customers, regardless of what industry they operate in, even when our customers don’t require it. Aohong knows that PPAP addresses and eliminates risks at the start of any product development project and assures that repeatable high-quality products will meet customers’ expectations lot after lot, throughout the poduction life-cycle. All Aohong PPAP documentation is maintained and controlled by our in-house Quality Engineering Department located at our facility.