PPAP, PFMEA, ISO, PPM, AQL…all quality industry acronyms that can make your head hurt.
One of the most commonly used quality approval process in manufacturing is PPAP (pronounced Pee-pap) which stands for: Production Part Approval Process. PPAP is an industry quality standard consisting of an 18-step formal process. Some manufacturers follow the 18-step process and others modify it to their own process and threshold. Quality is determined by each customer individually.
PPAP is pretty self-explanatory – produce a part to the exact specification of the customer-provided blueprint (also referred to as Drawing) and submit the final result for approval. PPAP is a standardized process used to ensure each part meets expectations every time it’s produced.
So how does it happen? Where do you begin?
At Romo, it starts with a request from the customer for a new decal. A blueprint/drawing is sent to one of our customer representative and quoted using the specified material, inks, shape, size, quantity, and durability requirements. If R&D testing is required, that is also taken into account.
A sample job is produced to the exact specifications and tested at multiple steps in the process. Once finished, it’s passed onto the Quality Engineer who checks five sample parts by comparing them to specifications on the blueprint. He checks for spelling, dimension, punctuation, color matching, notes and other references. If it passes PPAP testing, the Part Submission Warrant, along with customer requested forms and documents, are completed. PPAP + 1-5 samples are sent to the customer. It is then reviewed by their quality department.
If a final product is made up of several pieces, each will follow this process.
An internal rejection can occur that halts submission. While reviewing samples, the Quality Engineer may fail the PPAP and reproduce the part with changes. A Quality Alert is issued to all supervisors and internal team members are notified with special attention is given to job to ensure the non-conformance component is addressed and corrected. If the customer rejects the PPAP samples due to quality testing failures, the process starts all over.
As tedious as this seems, failure during testing phases is much easier to correct than failure during final production.
Don’t be afraid to PPAP! It could give you less headaches down the road.