Acronym · Reliability & Quality
PPAP (Production Part Approval Process)
The automotive submission in which a supplier proves that its production process consistently makes parts to the customer's requirements, packaging up to eighteen elements such as design records, FMEAs, control plans, capability data and sample parts.
- Type
- Acronym
- Domain
- Reliability & Quality, Quality systems
- Also relevant to
- Automotive
Notes
Submission levels range from level 1, a warrant only, to level 5, full review at the supplier site, with level 3 the common default.
Overview
The Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) is the automotive industry's standard way for a supplier to prove, before shipping production parts, that it understands the customer's requirements and that its production process can make conforming parts consistently at the quoted rate. The supplier submits a package of evidence, summarised in a Part Submission Warrant, for the customer to approve.
How it works
PPAP is defined in a manual published by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) and is one of the automotive quality core tools, alongside advanced product quality planning, control plans, FMEA, measurement systems analysis and SPC. The package can contain up to eighteen elements, including design records, records of engineering changes, design and process FMEAs, a process flow diagram, a control plan, measurement system analysis studies, dimensional and material test results, initial process capability studies, and sample production parts.
Customers choose a submission level that sets how much is sent and how much is kept on file for review. For semiconductors, many elements map onto familiar documents: datasheets and specifications, qualification reports such as AEC-Q100 results, process FMEAs and control plans for wafer fab, assembly and test, and capability data for key parameters.
PPAP is repeated, at least in part, when something significant changes, such as a new manufacturing site, a material change or a process change, which links it closely to product change notifications.
Examples
- A chip supplier submitting a PPAP package with AEC-Q100 results, control plans and capability data for a new automotive microcontroller.
- A new assembly site for an existing part triggering a partial PPAP resubmission.
- A customer requesting a higher submission level that includes sample parts and full dimensional results.
- A Part Submission Warrant signed by the supplier summarising the package for the customer's approval.
Why it matters
Without an approved PPAP, an automotive customer will not accept production shipments, so it gates revenue. Supplier and customer quality engineers, APQP and PPAP specialists, product engineers and reliability engineers assemble and review the packages, and chip suppliers often maintain standard PPAP files for each automotive product.
In the chip lifecycle PPAP is prepared at the end of NPI, after qualification and before production shipments, and updated whenever a change requires requalification.
Related terms
Part of the Reliability & Quality glossary, with every term in the topic and the lifecycles, tools and standards that use them.
Where it appears on the Hub
Used on 40 pages of the Hub. In each group, the pages that mention it most come first.
Lifecycle stages and gates
Suggest an improvement
Suggest an improvement to this entry
A clearer definition, an example, a correction or a source an editor can check. Editors review every suggestion before the entry changes.
Last reviewed . Written by The Semiconductor Hub editorial team. The full glossary