1. Purpose of the gate
The customer, not the supplier, decides approval. This gate records what the customer decided and what follows from it. A full approval allows production shipment. An interim approval allows shipment for a limited time or quantity under conditions, and those conditions become tracked actions with owners and an expiry. A rejection returns the work to the approval stage with the reasons.
The approved package becomes the production baseline. From here, any change to what it describes, the design, materials, process, sites, sub-tier sources or test program, goes through change control and is assessed for notification and resubmission. Archiving the package exactly as approved is part of the gate, because later questions will refer to it.
Approval for one site or one route does not cover another. Where the part will be built at more than one site, each needs its own approval evidence, and shipment from a site may only start once that site is approved.
10 more sections for registered members.