APQP Checklist Template

Owned by the APQP lead. Enter the start of production date first: every due date counts back from it in working days, and the tasks after launch count forward from it. This template allows about ten months before it; for a shorter programme the early tasks fall due before you start, so change their due dates on the checklist or do them first. Say who is design responsible and whether the customer needs prototypes; each answer adds the design tasks this part needs.

• Record the part, the customer, the start of production date and the team — the customer and receiving plant, the part number, name and drawing revision, the programme it is for, the start of production date, who is design responsible, whether prototypes are needed, and the seven people this checklist assigns
• Hold the APQP kickoff with the cross-functional team — who is on the team and what each person owns, the customer’s contacts, how the team will work with the customer and with sub-suppliers, and the dates of the phase reviews
• Collect the customer’s requirements and customer-specific requirements — the nomination or purchase order, the drawings and specifications, volumes and quoted rate, the customer’s supplier manual and its customer-specific requirements for IATF 16949, and the dates the customer has set for prototypes, PPAP and launch
• Set the design goals and the quality and reliability targets — the performance, durability, weight and cost goals the customer has set, and the quality and reliability targets the part must meet in the customer’s own terms
• Build the programme timing plan back from the start of production — the customer’s milestones (prototypes, PPAP, start of production) and the team’s own: design freeze, tooling kickoff and delivery, the production run and the phase reviews
• Draw the preliminary bill of materials and process flow — every purchased part and material and where it will come from, and the main process steps from receiving to shipping, as far as they are known now
• List the preliminary special characteristics — the product and process characteristics the customer designates on its drawings and specifications, and the ones the team adds from experience with similar parts, each with the customer’s symbol
• Check feasibility and capacity at the quoted volume — whether the part can be made to the requirements at the quoted rate and volume with the equipment, floor space and shifts available, and what new equipment or tooling is needed
• Hold the Phase 1 review with management — the team shows what Phase 1 produced (the requirements, the targets, the timing plan, the preliminary bill of materials, process flow and special characteristics), the open risks and actions, and whether the people, tooling and money for the next phase are in place

Owned by the design engineer where you are design responsible, and by the quality engineer where you build to the customer’s design. The first task’s answers decide which design tasks show. Every run ends this phase with the team feasibility commitment and the Phase 2 review.

• Run the design FMEA — the part’s functions, how each could fail, the effects and causes, the risk ranking in the method the customer requires, and the actions, with the special characteristics it identifies
• Review the customer’s design for manufacturability — every drawing and specification checked for what you can make and measure: tolerances, materials, datums, special characteristics, and anything unclear or missing
• Write the prototype control plan — the dimensional checks, material tests and performance tests the prototype parts get, and the record each check leaves
• Agree the design changes with the customer in writing — each change the drawing review asked for, the customer’s answer, and the drawing revision that carries it
• Hold the design reviews — the design checked against the requirements and targets at each stage, with the DFMEA actions, manufacturing and assembly feedback, and the test results so far
• Specify the new equipment, tooling and facilities — the tools, fixtures, machines and floor space the part needs, with long-lead items ordered so they arrive before the process is proved
• Build, check and ship the prototype parts — the parts built and checked to the prototype control plan, the results recorded and the parts shipped to the customer’s dates
• Plan and run design verification — the tests that show the design meets its requirements, the samples, the acceptance criteria and the results, in a design verification plan and report
• Specify the gauges and test equipment — the measuring equipment and checking aids each characteristic needs, special characteristics first, ordered in time for the measurement studies
• Confirm the special characteristics — the preliminary list updated from the design FMEA or the customer’s drawings, agreed with the customer where it requires, and carried into the drawings and control plans
• Release the drawings and specifications — the drawings, models, material and performance specifications released at a stated revision with the special characteristics marked, and sent for customer approval where the customer requires it
• Sign the team feasibility commitment — the team confirms the part can be made, measured, packed and delivered in the required quantity, at the quoted cost and to the timing plan, or lists what must change
• Hold the Phase 2 review with management — the team shows what Phase 2 produced (the design FMEA or drawing review, design verification, any prototypes, the special characteristics, the equipment and gauge plans and the feasibility commitment), the open risks and actions, and whether the people, tooling and money for the next phase are in place

Owned by the manufacturing engineer. The process is designed around the released design: the flow, the floor plan, the process FMEA, the pre-launch control plan, the instructions, the packaging and the plans for proving the gauges and the process. The tooling is delivered and proved before Phase 4.

• Finalise the process flow chart — every step from receiving to shipping, including inspection, rework, storage and the handling of nonconforming parts
• Agree the packaging with the customer — the containers, dunnage, quantities and labels the customer requires, checked to protect the part, and approved by the customer where it asks
• Lay out the floor plan — where each operation, inspection point and gauge sits, how material flows, and where nonconforming parts are held
• Run the process FMEA — each process step from the flow chart, how it could fail, the effects on the part and the customer, the causes, the controls and the actions
• Write the pre-launch control plan — the extra dimensional checks, tests and inspections after prototypes and before production, with the controls for every special characteristic and the reaction to a failure
• Write the work instructions and set-up sheets — an instruction for each operation from the PFMEA and control plan, with the settings, checks and what to do when a check fails
• Plan the measurement systems analysis — the gauge studies for each gauge used on a special characteristic and the method and acceptance criteria the customer requires
• Plan the preliminary process capability studies — which characteristics are studied, how many parts, how they are sampled and the capability the customer requires
• Plan quality with the new sub-suppliers — each new sub-supplier’s parts approved through their own quality planning and PPAP, or your own approval, before those parts go into the production run
• Install and prove the tooling and equipment — each tool and machine accepted at the maker and again after installation, with first parts checked before the production run
• Hold the Phase 3 review with management — the team shows what Phase 3 produced (the process flow, floor plan, process FMEA, pre-launch control plan, instructions, packaging, the measurement and capability plans and the proved tooling), the open risks and actions, and whether the people, tooling and money for the next phase are in place

Owned by the quality engineer with the production manager. The process is run as it will run in production and the results prove it: gauge studies, a significant production run, capability, validation tests, packaging and the PPAP. The launch approver then decides whether production starts, and nothing after that decision can be completed until it is made.

• Train the operators and inspectors — everyone who will run, set or check the process trained on the work instructions and control plan before the production run, with the record kept
• Complete the measurement systems analysis studies — each planned gauge study run on the production gauges, the results against the customer’s criteria, and any gauge fixed or replaced
• Run the significant production run — the run made at the production site with production tooling, gauges, materials, operators and settings, at the production rate, in the quantity the customer requires
• Complete the preliminary process capability studies — the planned studies run on parts from the production run, with the results against the customer’s targets and the actions for any characteristic that falls short
• Run the production validation tests — the engineering tests repeated on parts from production tooling and the production process, to show they still meet the requirements
• Check the packaging with parts from the run — parts from the run packed as specified and checked for damage, labels and quantities, through a trial shipment where the customer asks
• Update the control plan for launch and production — the pre-launch plan’s extra checks carried into the launch period the customer requires, and the production control plan that follows it, matching the PFMEA
• Submit the PPAP and record the customer’s disposition — the PPAP prepared and submitted at the level the customer requires, and the customer’s decision: approved, interim approval or rejected
• Check launch readiness — the PPAP disposition, open actions from the phase reviews, capacity at the production rate, the launch control plan, stock of purchased parts, packaging and trained people, each confirmed or listed as open
• Close the gaps that stopped the launch decision — each reason the launch approver gave for Not yet, the fix and the evidence, before the decision is made again
• Launch approver decides whether production starts — the readiness check, the PPAP disposition and the open risks reviewed, and a decision: go, go with conditions, or not yet

Applies only when the launch decision is Go or Go with conditions. Owned by the production manager with quality. Any conditions from the launch decision are closed and the launch checks the customer requires are in place before the first part ships. Production starts on the start of production date, and the extra checks stay until their exit criteria are met and the customer agrees.

• Close the conditions set at the launch decision — each condition the launch approver set, the action taken and the evidence, closed by the date agreed
• Put the launch containment checks in place — the extra inspection the customer requires for the launch period set up before the first part ships: where it sits, what it checks, how results are recorded and the exit criteria
• Start production and ship the first parts — production started on the agreed date with the production control plan in use, and the first shipment made with the labels and packaging approved
• Monitor quality and delivery through ramp-up — parts made, scrap, internal and customer rejects, delivery against the schedule and any containment finds, reviewed each week
• Confirm the process holds at the production rate — a run at the full rate over the period the customer sets, with capability rechecked on production data
• Exit launch containment with the customer’s agreement — the exit criteria met, the evidence sent to the customer, and the extra checks removed only once the customer agrees

Applies only when the launch decision is Go or Go with conditions. Owned by the APQP lead. What the launch taught goes back into the documents that run the process and into the next programme, and the programme is handed over to series production.

• Log the customer’s feedback and complaints — returns, complaints, field reports and the customer’s scorecard for quality and delivery since launch, each with its cause and response, and any gap against the targets given an owner
• Fix problems with corrective action — each problem from the launch investigated to its root cause, with a corrective action and a check that it worked
• Update the PFMEA, control plan and work instructions — what the launch and the corrective actions taught carried into the living documents, so the production process runs from current ones
• Record the lessons learned — what went well and what did not, phase by phase, written where the next programme’s team will find them
• Hand over to series production and close the programme — the final review held, open actions given owners in the plant’s own systems, the records filed and the programme closed