1. Purpose of the gate
Design validation proved the design. Production validation proves the factory. The production validation build, the PVT build, is made on the production line, with production tooling, production test, production suppliers and production operators, at a rate close to the planned one. The question is whether the line makes good systems consistently, and whether production test catches the bad ones.
Many system problems first appear here: a supplier's part that differs slightly from the validation samples, a tooling tolerance that stacks up, a test that passes units it should reject, an assembly step that works for engineers but not for operators. TR3 confirms the technology is ready for volume: the chips and modules are in production supply, the production test is correlated with validation and the suppliers are qualified.
The criteria are: units built on the production line in the planned quantity, at the target yield or with a plan; production test released and correlated with validation; suppliers and the approved vendor list qualified; and open production issues tracked. Gating work products are the board layout and fabrication data at released maturity, the PVT validation results, the PVT report and the production test programs. The PVT units themselves are released for validation and for any remaining certification or customer samples.
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