Advanced Quality Planning (AQP) | SMC Ltd.

Advanced Quality Planning (AQP) is a critical tool used during product development to guide communications, reduce risk, and increase chances for overall project success. SMC’s Quality Team has structured this process progressively utilizing AQP to assure quality and performance through up-front planning, and by sustaining the activities throughout the process lifecycle. AQP aggregates the common planning activities across all SMC business sectors into one process. SMC engages key suppliers into the AQP process to drive successful qualifications and validations.

There are numerous tools and techniques deployed by our Quality Team as part of the AQP process. Each tool has potential value when applied in the correct timing and engaging the right resources.

Our AQP process involves these major elements:

• Define the scope, product, purpose and constraints
• Understand customer needs – determine customer needs and translate them into product requirements
• Build manufacturing process requirements
• Document regulatory requirements
• Conduct quality risk planning
• Establish product/process validation expectations
• Analyze critical/high risk purchased materials
• Identify process control requirements