APQP 3rd Edition: The Next Evolution.

The Third Edition was released on March 01, 2024

That year 2024 began with one of the most important changes for the automotive industry concerning quality management systems, the evolution of the manual of Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), which had been in force since 2008 in its Second Edition. Starting on 01 March 2024, the Third Edition was released, introducing significant changes, mainly in APQP management, which we review simply below:

New Control Plan Manual.
1. The Control Plan methodology is separated from the APQP Manual into a dedicated manual for proper preparation, which we will review another time.
2. The “Safe Launch” Control Plan is added and will apply to the initial launch of mass production.
Vendor Management.
1. To secure design and manufacturing capacity an exhaustive research is required.
2. It's important to identify high risk providers and to set criteria for their definition.
Change Management.
1. To identify inputs and outputs of changes while running the APQP.
2. Properly communicate the What? Who? How? and How much? of the APQP changes to interested parties.
Stages Management (Gates Management)
1. To provide a more holistic approach that meets the expectations of leadership approval at the end of each phase of product quality planning.
2. Checklists as suggested documentation for reviewing each APQP Stage (Gate).
Capacity planning.
1. Review of Historical OEE.
2. Include maintenance downtime, required tooling, and infrastructure.
3. Bottleneck operations mitigated and controlled.
Programme risk management
1. Establish an APQP risk mitigation program.
2. Include vendor risk management at the selection stage.
3. To set up a risk communication plan.
APQP Metrics.
1. Represent the status of APQP using a traffic-light system.
2. Used by leadership in managing the stages (Gates).

These are broadly the main changes contained in the third edition with respect to the second edition of the APQP.

As we have seen, there is a much stricter approach to managing each stage, using lessons learned and considering the influence suppliers can have on the program's success.

Throughout the Manual, you will also see the alignment APQP creates to meet requirements established in the different changes IATF 16949, Customer-Specific Requirements (CSR), and the other Core Tools manuals.

Nevertheless, how the established guidelines are being met is a task for each organisation. The main intention is to ensure proper risk management of the APQP throughout all its phases up to the launch of the product.

Finally, automakers are allowing an implementation or transition period of 6 months from publication on 01 March 2024, so: The new version of APQP is already here and we have training to support your knowledge and implementation!

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