1. Purpose of the gate
Safe launch protects the customer while the process proves itself in series production. Ending it too early exposes the customer to problems the added checks would have caught; keeping it too long costs money and hides whether the normal control plan works. This gate decides on evidence: the exit criteria written into the safe launch plan.
Typical evidence includes stable statistical control on special characteristics, yield and bin trends within expectation, no open customer complaint, containment actions closed, and capability confirmed on a larger body of production data than the trial provided. The customer agrees to the exit, often in writing.
Removing the added checks is a change to the control plan and is done through change control. Open launch issues that are not closed are transferred, with owners, to normal problem solving so they are not lost when the launch team stands down.
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