A global industrial distributor and service provider for fasteners, Optimas Solutions, has opened a dedicated Parts Production Approval Process (PPAP) Centre of Excellence in Pune, India, to assure customers of PPAP process integrity and accelerate the Optimas global parts quality approval process. PPAP is synonymous with industrial OEMs and the new Centre of excellence will expedite the delivery of correct components to customer production lines.
The PPAP process combined with a robust Advance Product Quality Planning (APQP) process ensures that manufacturers deliver parts from concept, prototype and through to serial manufacture right first time. Serving as a minimum quality benchmark, components that attain PPAP approval can be introduced into new or existing production lines, while providing both manufacturers and Optimas the assurances that the new component is right for the job and that the manufacturing process is robust and repeatable. PPAP provides proof of performance and conformance to customer standards, taking into account criteria such as manufacturing process, material, heat treatment and coatings among others.
Many customers insist on exclusively using PPAP approved parts, as this ensures all outsourced components are manufactured to the correct quality requirements and standards - critical assurance when operating lean manufacturing operations.
(Continued on the next page)