Production part approval process evaluation

Abstract

For large Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to manufacture products and parts in an efficient manner, good collaboration with suppliers is crucial. To facilitate efficient supplier collaboration, the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) developed the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) to make sure that supplier could deliver high quality parts to automotive OEMs. This process is used all over the world and a large OEM in Sweden has used it for many years. The OEM had recently experienced issues with delays and increasing costs when developing new products and identified the PPAP as a potential improvement area. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the PPAP at the OEM to identify challenges within the process and to give recommendations for the OEM to mitigate these challenges. To manage this, the research was designed as a case study to achieve a high-level of focus on the OEM and the Supplier Quality Department working with the PPAP. The empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and complementary observations. The data was then systematically analysed to identify the underlying themes of challenges that mostly affected the OEM. The identified themes of challenges that were deemed the drivers for the issues faced at the OEM were, Knowledge Sharing, External & internal communication, Collaboration between stakeholders and High administrative workload. To mitigate these challenges, the authors suggest that the OEM should start focusing on two areas in the short and medium term. Firstly, the OEM should focus on increasing knowledge sharing within the organisation and with the suppliers by initiating education sessions and using existing web systems for that purpose. Secondly, the OEM should focus on investigating the supplier perspective of the PPAP as a first step to implementing a new IT system for the PPAP and Advanced Product Quality Plan (APQP). This should be followed by an investigation into the demands and requirements on an IT system for all stakeholders connected to the PPAP at the OEM.