1. Purpose of the gate
Concept and business case approval is the investment decision for the tool. Before it, the programme has spent on people and models; after it, the programme spends on detailed design, test stands, prototype hardware and long-lead parts. The business is asked to commit to the concept the team recommends, on the strength of a business case and a cost of ownership position that show customers will buy the tool and the maker will earn a return over its life.
For equipment, much of that return comes after the first sale. Spare parts, service contracts, consumables and upgrades often matter as much as tool revenue, and they depend on choices made now: how serviceable the tool is, how modular, and whether the platform can take later process modules. The business case must therefore include service and upgrade revenue assumptions, and the review should test them as hard as the tool price.
The gate criteria are an approved business case, including service and upgrade revenue assumptions; a cost of ownership model that is competitive against the customer's alternatives; an approved development plan and budget; and an agreed technology control plan setting the export control and technology sharing rules for the programme. Two key decisions are taken at this gate: the cost of ownership target, which is also frozen here, and subsystem make or buy and sourcing, which is frozen later at the Subsystem critical design review.
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