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Field Book · Chapter 8 of 8 · Package, warrant and approval

Submit the PPAP

Assemble the package at the level the customer requires, make every record agree, sign the Part Submission Warrant and submit early. What to do if it comes back rejected.

By Chris Martin, quality manager. 2 minute read. Free, no signup.

Assemble the PPAP at the submission level the customer names, not what you think they want. Make every record agree with every other, check every number against its source, and sign the Part Submission Warrant only after checking every entry. If it comes back rejected, read every reason, turn each into one action with an owner and a date, fix the cause and update every record the fix touches.

Week 11. Everything the team built in steps 1 to 7 now goes into the package, along with the rest of the 18 elements the customer's requirements ask for. The checklist from day one is now the tracker: 18 rows, each with an owner, a week and a status.

Assemble it at the level the customer requires

Do not build what you think the customer wants. Build what the requirements say, at the submission level they name. Then go through it as a reviewer would.

  1. Every record agrees with every other. The part number and revision match everywhere.
  2. Every number matches its source. The 300 piece run, the capability figures and the gage results are the ones in the records.
  3. The control plan, the PFMEA and the work instruction all describe the same process, including the resin load check added in step 7.
  4. Nothing is blank. Every element is either complete or marked as not required by the customer, with a reason.

Sign the warrant and submit

The Part Submission Warrant is signed by someone with the authority to say the parts and records meet the customer's requirements. Check every entry on it against the records before it is signed. Here it went out on Wednesday of week 12, two days before the due date. The customer's approval came back the following Wednesday.

That is the end of this case: an approval. Production release follows.

If it comes back rejected

A rejection is a message, not a verdict on the team. It arrives with reasons. Handle it calmly and in order:

  1. Read every reason. If one is unclear, ask the customer what they need. Do not guess.
  2. Turn each reason into one action with an owner and a date.
  3. Fix the cause, not just the paper. If a number was wrong, find out why it was wrong.
  4. Update every record the fix touches, so they still agree with each other.
  5. Resubmit the way the customer requires.

Read more: the PPAP 18 elements.

The mistake to avoid

Submitting records that disagree with each other. A part revision that differs between the warrant and the control plan, or a capability figure that does not match the study, invites questions you could have answered in week 11.

ON THE FLOOR MONDAY
  • Take your next PPAP and compare the plan to the requirements, line by line.
  • Check the part number and revision match in every record.
  • Write down who signs the warrant and what they check first.

Open the printable Monday Board

Want every tool on this trail in one purchase? The Launch Trail Bundle has all 12.

The part, the tool, the program and every number in this book (latch cover LC-5927) are a made-up example. The tool sidebars show ShopFloorOps tools, which I make and sell. Every chapter teaches the step itself, so you can use your own forms. New to a term? See the quality glossary.