What happened

A submission slipped by three weeks. The parts were good, the process was capable, and the only thing outstanding was a measurement systems study on a single characteristic. Everyone treated it as paperwork.

What it actually cost

The customer would not approve production without a full submission, so the launch ran on a deviation. Under the deviation every shipment needed a signature, and the first shipment after a shift change went out without one.

  • Two weeks of certified shipping.
  • A customer audit that would not otherwise have happened.
  • A supplier rating drop that took two quarters to recover.

The lesson

Each PPAP element is evidence the customer uses to decide whether to trust the process. Treat an outstanding element as an open risk with a date on it, and escalate it on the same clock as a quality problem.

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