MANUFACTURING GLOSSARY / PPAP
PPAP: Production part approval process
PPAP is a structured automotive supply-chain process for demonstrating that production requirements are understood and that the process can repeatedly produce conforming parts.
What it means in manufacturing
The exact submission level, records, customer-specific requirements, and approval authority must be established for the applicable customer and program.
A question to use in evaluation
Can each submitted record be tied to the correct part, revision, process, sample, reviewer, and customer decision?
Keep the label and the evidence separate
Category terms describe a type of work; they do not establish what a specific software release, configuration, integration, or customer process can do. Test the proposed boundary with representative records, responsible owners, failure cases, and written acceptance criteria.
Your next step
Test the definition against your operation.
Use a real workflow to determine where the record lives, who decides, and what evidence the proposed scope must retain.