A Practical Guide to APQP Documents Using eAuditor Audits & Inspections
APQP Documents – For Quality Professionals, Engineers, and Project Leads Who Want to Get It Right the First Time
Launching a new product in manufacturing without a solid plan is like building a house without a blueprint—you’ll end up fixing problems that should’ve been prevented. That’s where APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) steps in. It creates a structured framework to help teams deliver quality products, on time, with fewer surprises.
But let’s be honest—APQP documents can feel overwhelming. Spreadsheets get messy, tasks get lost in email threads, and audits turn into scavenger hunts. That’s why more teams are turning to eAuditor Audits & Inspections to manage APQP planning with clarity, accountability, and confidence.
This guide walks you through how to use eAuditor to manage APQP planning documents—from design to launch—along with real examples and field-tested insights.
What Is APQP and Why It Matters
What Is APQP and Why It MattersAPQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) is a framework developed by the automotive industry to ensure products meet customer expectations from day one. It’s broken down into five phases:
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Plan and Define
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Product Design and Development
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Process Design and Development
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Product and Process Validation
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Feedback, Assessment, and Corrective Action
Each phase has key APQP documents—like DFMEAs, process flows, control plans, and PPAP packages—that track risk, verify compliance, and support continuous improvement.
A quality engineer at a Tier 1 supplier once told us:
“We knew how to do good work. But with APQP in eAuditor, we learned how to show it. And that’s what makes customers trust us.”
Using eAuditor to Manage APQP Documents
eAuditor isn’t just a checklist tool. It’s a flexible platform that turns complex planning into structured, auditable workflows. Here’s how to use it for each APQP phase:
1. Phase 1: Plan and Define Program
Goal: Understand customer needs and project scope.
Documents:
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Customer Requirements Checklist
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Feasibility Study
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Risk Analysis (Preliminary)
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Program Timeline
How to Use eAuditor:
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Create a custom inspection template to verify customer specs against internal capabilities.
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Add checklist items for kickoff meeting attendance, risk flags, and feasibility sign-offs.
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Attach customer documents directly to the audit entry.
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Set automated reminders for timeline reviews.
Pro Tip: One project manager at an injection molding company used eAuditor to document cross-functional feasibility reviews. They caught a tooling mismatch before the first design drawing, saving $12,000 in revisions.
2.
Phase 2: Product Design and Development
Goal: Build a design that meets customer and regulatory expectations.
Documents:
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Design FMEA (DFMEA)
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Design Verification Plan
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Engineering Drawings
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Design Reviews
How to Use eAuditor:
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Assign each DFMEA line item as an auditable step.
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Use logic fields to escalate risks with RPN (Risk Priority Number) scoring.
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Add file upload fields for drawing revisions and calculation checks.
Real Example: An automotive supplier used eAuditor to link DFMEA reviews to drawing versions. When a supplier flagged a potential design clash, the team resolved it within hours—because everyone had the right version in one place.
3. Phase 3: Process Design and Development
Goal: Define how you’ll make the product consistently and safely.
Documents:
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Process Flow Diagram
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Process FMEA (PFMEA)
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Control Plan
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Equipment and Tooling Requirements
How to Use eAuditor:
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Build a checklist with each process step and associated controls.
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Assign PFMEA actions to specific owners with due dates and photos of tooling.
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Cross-link the control plan with process flow steps using a shared identifier.
Anecdote: A plant lead in Ohio shared that before eAuditor, their PFMEAs lived in spreadsheets nobody opened after the first review. Now, each shift logs process deviations directly into the PFMEA checklist—with real-time alerts for high-priority items.
4.
Phase 4: Product and Process Validation
Goal: Prove that the product and process meet requirements under real conditions.
Documents:
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Production Part Approval Process (PPAP)
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Capability Studies (Cp, Cpk)
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Measurement System Analysis (MSA)
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Initial Run Reports
How to Use eAuditor:
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Create a PPAP approval form with checkboxes for each element (dimensional results, material certs, Gage R&R, etc.)
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Upload test results and validation data
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Include sign-off fields for quality, engineering, and customer approval
Smart Feature: eAuditor’s “evidence capture” lets you take photos of first-run parts and attach capability graphs—all within the checklist.
5. Phase 5: Feedback, Assessment, and Corrective Action
Goal: Learn from what happened—and get better.
Documents:
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Customer Complaints Log
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Warranty Data
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8D Problem Solving Reports
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Continuous Improvement Plans
How to Use eAuditor:
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Convert complaints into inspection checklists with built-in 8D workflows.
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Assign root cause analysis steps (5 Whys, Fishbone) to team members.
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Track resolution timelines and verify corrective action effectiveness over time.
Case Study: A casting manufacturer used eAuditor to track corrective actions across five plants. Within six months, they reduced repeat defects by 43%—simply by making follow-up part of the audit process.
Benefits of Managing APQP with eAuditor
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Better Visibility – Track who did what, when, and with what evidence.
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Faster Reviews – Standardized templates save hours on audits and customer reviews.
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Real-Time Collaboration – Multiple departments can work in the same template.
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Built-In Compliance – Stay audit-ready for IATF 16949, ISO 9001, or customer-specific requirements.
One launch engineer put it simply:
“We stopped reacting and started anticipating. That’s what good APQP does—and eAuditor makes it stick.”
Final Thoughts
APQP isn’t about paperwork. It’s about building trust—trust between teams, with your customers, and in your own process. When you manage planning APQP documents with eAuditor, you gain more than traceability—you gain control, consistency, and clarity.
So whether you’re launching a simple bracket or a complex assembly, start with a good plan—and audit it every step of the way.