Learn about SoftExpert APQP/PPAP

This content was translated using artificial intelligence. To request a review, please email documentacao_se@softexpert.com.

Welcome!

SoftExpert APQP/PPAP is a system developed to support and automate Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), ensuring that new or modified products fully meet technical and regulatory requirements and customer expectations.

The system acts as a structured guide throughout the entire product development process, standardizing methods, documents, and records required by the industry, especially in highly regulated environments such as the automotive sector. In this way, it promotes greater control, traceability, and reliability in the exchange of information between manufacturers and suppliers.

Through SoftExpert APQP/PPAP, it is possible to plan, execute, monitor, and review all activities related to product development and approval, ensuring the proper use of resources, meeting deadlines, and reducing costs associated with rework, process failures, and non-conformities.

Furthermore, the system centralizes forms, checklists, studies, and reports—such as FMEA, control plans, dimensional tests, MSA, and submission certificates—maintaining a complete history of revisions and ensuring compliance with automotive standards and customer requirements.

What are its characteristics?

Upon accessing the system, the component is divided into the following menus:

Settings	This menu is where the initial component settings are configured, which are fundamental for the correct functioning of APQP/PPAP. Among other items, attributes, checklists, custom forms, identification masks, general parameters, submission reasons, APQP/PPAP types, and review rules are defined here.
Register	This menu is for recording structural information, such as file forms and APQP/PPAP templates.
Management	Menu for planning new APQP/PPAPs, monitoring their execution, performing revisions, deleting obsolete records, and managing copies of existing studies. It also allows viewing schedules, Gantt charts, and comparisons between planned and actual progress.
Execution	Menu where planned APQP/PPAP activities are executed. In this menu, those responsible fill out forms, record actual execution data, perform required tests, analyses, and studies, and complete or submit activities for approval, according to the defined workflow.
Consultation	A menu that gathers information recorded in the system, allowing queries for APQP/PPAPs, activities, revisions, and tasks.

Shall we begin?

By following the steps in the flow below, you will be able to successfully configure and operate SoftExpert APQP/PPAP.

By following the steps in the workflow presented below, you will be able to successfully configure and operate SoftExpert APQP/PPAP, from initial planning to final product approval.

To connect the instructions to a practical scenario, an example from the automotive industry will be presented during the explanation of the features, considering the development and approval of an automotive brake assembly supplied to a car manufacturer.

In this way, it will be possible to understand, in a practical and objective manner, how SoftExpert APQP/PPAP supports quality management and product conformity in the automotive sector.