PPAP and Submission
PPAP is the contract that proves a supplier can build a production part to spec, every time. It bundles the design record, process flow, PFMEA, control plan, MSA, capability study, dimensional results, and customer specific paperwork into one submission that an OEM signs off before approving production. Quality engineers live in PPAP, but most teams still run it on a spreadsheet, a shared drive, and a prayer. The guides in this topic walk through the 18 elements, the submission levels, the gotchas that hold up signoff, and what changes when a platform owns the document trail instead of a human.
4 articles in this topic
Featured article
What is PPAP? A Complete Guide for Quality Engineers
Everything quality engineers need to know about PPAP — definition, the 18 elements, submission levels, common mistakes, and how AI is changing the process.
Read the full guidePPAP Fundamentals
What PPAP is, what it requires, and how the elements fit together.
PPAP 18 Elements Checklist: What Each Element Has to Show to Pass a Customer Submission Review
A practitioner checklist for all 18 PPAP elements under the AIAG PPAP 4th Edition. What each element actually has to contain, the reviewer mindset on the customer side, and the specific defects that get a Level 3 package kicked back to Interim.
FAI vs PPAP: When Aerospace Suppliers Need First Article Inspection, PPAP, or Both
FAI under AS9102 and PPAP under AIAG cover similar ground for different supply chains. A practical guide to where they overlap, where they don't, which customers ask for which, and how dual-cert aerospace shops keep one source of truth feeding both submissions.
PPAP Software
Tooling decisions, platform comparisons, and what to look for when you replace spreadsheets.
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