Development process - APQP

Step 1: Project launch

Even before the product development process actually commences, CASQ-it APQP project templates guarantee a rapid project launch. Past experience ensures that preliminary requests can be reliably assessed. This creates a high degree of planning reliability for both the Sales and Development divisions and the company’s management.

To get going quickly, all the process steps, checklists, planning schedules, milestones and necessary documents have already been prepared in advance. Customers, account managers and suppliers are all directly involved – simultaneously and in numerous languages.

Step 2: Ressource-management

The integrated resource management tool ensures that staff shortages are avoided right from the outset and that unresolvable tasks are identified prior to launching the project. This enables possible shortages and bottlenecks to be reliably monitored without any additional effort. CASQ-it APQP automatically provides information on personnel deployment and potential overloads without the need to enter additional data. The project plan and feedback from the project participants enable the project load for each individual employee, and consequently for each department, to be automatically calculated.

Step 3: Project feedback

CASQ-it APQP is a synonym for seamless communications and information transparency. All responsible players are kept up-do-date on their tasks, deadlines and the status at all times. This is achieved remotely via a web browser interface. All project members send feedback on their tasks through to-do lists in this browser. Supplier feedback is re-imported into sub-projects in a range of standard formats; status reports for customers are either exported or distributed in printed form. All documents and information, including that available in DMS systems, server directories, other CASQ-it modules and ERP/PPS systems, can be accessed centrally via the APQP system.

Step 4: Project monitoring

The transparent Gantt chart and the to-do lists included in the CASQ-it APQP system feature an integrated notification and correction system. Traffic light colors indicate problems and highlight the spots where the success of the project is jeopardized. The Gantt chart makes any missed deadlines, deadline alerts, bottlenecks or unfulfilled checklists immediately discernible.

Apart from this traffic light system, the CASQ-it APQP software also automatically generates warning messages via email as soon as the success of the project is jeopardized. At the same time, any changes or corrections to the project plan also have an immediate effect on the employees’ to-do lists.

Step 5: Lessons learned

Experience gained in previous projects is used by the CASQ-it APQP system to optimize the project templates, i.e. continuous improvement is directly integrated.
The experience gained through completing the project flows straight into separate, more sophisticated checklists, corrected planning schedules and cost plans and any new project steps that may be required.