What this is
What is a production part approval record?
What is a production part approval record?
The evidence pack, drawings, capability, measurement system results and samples, that approves a part or product for ongoing series production. It is the formal sign-off submission, in the style of the automotive PPAP process, distinct from the first article inspection it depends on.
Who approves a production part approval record?
Quality internally, and the customer as well where the contract requires it. Internal approval confirms the evidence pack is complete; customer approval confirms the customer accepts the part for their own production.
How is this different from a first article inspection?
A first article inspection checks one part against every specified characteristic at a single setup. This record is the broader submission, built from a significant production run under normal conditions, that approves the process for ongoing series production and typically references a successful first article as one piece of its evidence rather than replacing it.
Scope
When is a production part approval record required?
This record is the approval step at the end of a programme, not a substitute for the studies it references. Using it before those underlying records exist produces an approval with no evidence behind it.
Use this template when
- A new part or product is about to ship to a customer for the first time
- A significant change has occurred that a customer or internal standard requires resubmission for
- A customer requires a formal, documented approval before series production begins
- You are running the Statistical Process Control programme and this is its closing step
- A linked record needs this one to exist: first article inspection, capability study
Do not use it for
- Manufacturing First Article Inspection, which inspects the first part off a setup against every specified characteristic, and is the piece-level check this record's evidence is built on
- Statistical Process Control Chart Review, which reviews control charts once the process is running under approval, not the approval decision itself
- Statistical Process Capability Study, which establishes whether the process can hold the tolerance, and is referenced here rather than repeated
- Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility Study, which is the measurement system analysis behind the measurement-system field in the evidence pack
- Customer Specific Requirement Review, which tracks an individual OEM's submission-level and documentation variations, rather than this general record
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 9001 cl.8.5 requirements does this satisfy?
ISO 9001 does not name a production part approval process, but it requires verification before release and evidence the process will hold what it is asked to hold, which is the substance a PPAP-style record exists to demonstrate. Where a contract invokes AIAG PPAP or an equivalent scheme, that scheme sets the format; ISO 9001 sets the underlying obligation regardless.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001 cl.8.6 | Verification that product requirements have been met, with release not proceeding until satisfactorily completed or approved by the customer | Approval |
| ISO 9001 cl.8.5.1 | Control of production, including implementation of monitoring and measurement and use of suitable infrastructure | Production run |
| ISO 9001 cl.8.3.4 | Design and development controls, including review, verification and validation appropriate to the stage | Evidence |
| ISO 9001 cl.7.1.5 | Monitoring and measuring resources suitable for the type of monitoring, maintained and calibrated by a competent function | Evidence |
| ISO 9001 cl.9.1.1 | Determination of what needs monitoring and measuring, and evaluation of the results | Production run |
| ISO 9001 cl.8.5.6 | Review and control of changes for production, to the extent necessary to ensure continuing conformity | Approval |
What it does not cover
- Manufacturing First Article Inspection, which is the piece-level check this record's production-run evidence is built on, not a step it repeats.
- Statistical Process Capability Study, which is the underlying capability analysis this record's capability field summarises rather than performs.
- Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility Study, which is the measurement system analysis behind the measurement-system-study answer here.
- Statistical Process Control Chart Review, which reviews the process once it is running under this approval, not the approval decision itself.
- Customer Specific Requirement Review, which tracks an individual OEM's submission level and documentation variations, rather than this general record.
Global
Production Part Approval Record requirements by country
No statute requires this record. The obligation is customer-contractual or embedded in a management-system standard, and the specific scheme invoked, if any, depends on the sector and customer rather than a regulator.
AIAG Production Part Approval Process manual
Originated with the North American automotive OEMs, defining five submission levels and the standard evidence pack.
Where a US OEM contract invokes AIAG PPAP, the submission level named sets exactly which documents in the evidence pack are mandatory.
VDA 2, Product and Process Approval
The European automotive equivalent, similar in intent but not identical in format or submission structure to AIAG PPAP.
A supplier shipping to both North American and European OEMs may run two distinct approval processes for the same part.
ISO 9001:2015 cl.8.6, with IATF 16949 for automotive certification
ISO 9001 requires verification before release generally; IATF 16949 requires a PPAP-equivalent process for automotive certification.
Outside automotive, the ISO 9001 obligation still applies even where no named submission scheme is invoked.
How to complete it
How to complete a production part approval record, step by step
The template asks yes-or-no questions about documents that should already exist. The judgement calls are about what those answers are actually standing on.
Control plan, failure mode analysis, capability study and measurement system study each have to exist as real documents before the corresponding field is marked complete. A yes against a document not yet written is the most common way this record becomes indefensible.
Production tooling, production rate, production operators. A development sample or a slow, hand-assisted run is not significant regardless of quantity, and approving on that basis approves a process the customer has not actually seen operate.
Interim approval exists for a genuine reason, missing capability data, a pending lab result, but is not a substitute for full approval left open indefinitely. State what closes it and by when, or it becomes the de facto approval nobody intended to grant.
The approval covers the process as it exists at sign-off. A supplier change, a tooling relocation or a material substitution invalidates it, and naming those triggers up front gives the approval a way to become due again before an audit finds it was not.
What auditors find
Most common production part approval record findings
Findings here are rarely about a missing signature; they concern whether evidence behind a completed field exists.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Capability study marked complete with no capability study document on file. | ISO 9001 cl.8.3.4 | Attach or reference the actual capability study before marking the field complete; do not accept a verbal confirmation. |
| Production run recorded as significant when run on development tooling or at reduced rate. | ISO 9001 cl.8.5.1 | Record tooling status, rate and operator type against the run, and route non-representative runs back for a genuine production trial. |
| Customer decision recorded as approved with no evidence a submission was actually sent. | ISO 9001 cl.8.6 | Require a submission date and reference before a customer decision can be entered. |
| Interim approval granted with no condition or expiry stated. | ISO 9001 cl.8.5.6 | Record the specific condition that must close before full approval, and a date by which it is reviewed. |
| No resubmission trigger defined at the point of approval. | ISO 9001 cl.8.5.6 | Name the changes that require resubmission, supplier, tooling, material, location, before sign-off. |
| Master sample not retained, leaving no physical reference for the approved condition. | ISO 9001 cl.8.5.2 | Retain a labelled master sample against the approval record for the retention period the programme sets. |
Case in point
Case in point: the interim approval nobody closed
A components supplier submitted a new bracket at submission level three. The capability study was still running when the shipment date arrived, so the customer granted interim approval pending the completed study, with a stated ninety-day limit. The rest of the pack was complete: control plan, FMEA and process flow diagram on file, drawings and change documents current.
The study finished six weeks later and showed the process comfortably capable, but nobody updated the record, because the part was already shipping and nothing flagged the interim approval approaching its limit. Eight months on, a customer audit found the record still showing interim status against a lapsed ninety-day condition, with no full approval and no resubmission triggered. The part was fine; the record was not, and the finding was about the record.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
5 sections
- Reference
- QUA-110
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- PPA-2026-000
- Scoring
- Approvals complete
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- Yes
- Basis
- ISO 9001 cl.8.5
- Links
- Links Capability, First article
- Tags
- Manufacturing, Approval
- Sections
- 5
- Fields
- 53
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 3
Header
16 fieldsApproval ID*
Auto sequence. Format PPA-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Raised By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Line*
Shift*
Line Lead
Batch Number*
Numeric key joining to your ERP batch record.
Links to External system reference
Product*
Production Date*
The Evidence Pack Before First Shipment
It exists so a customer can see the part was made by a process that will keep making it right, rather than by a good day in a development shop.
Part Or Product*
Customer
Submission Level*
Evidence
12 fieldsDesign Records Held*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Change Documents Held*
- Yes3 pts
- Not applicable3 pts
- No0 pts
Customer Approval Of Design
- Yes3 pts
- Not required3 pts
- No0 pts
Process Flow Diagram*
- Yes3 pts
- Draft1 pt
- No0 pts
Failure Mode Analysis Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Control Plan Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Dimensional Results Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Material And Performance Test Results*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Capability Study Included*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Measurement System Study Included*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Qualified Laboratory Documentation*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Master Sample Retained*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Production run
6 fieldsSignificant Production Run Completed*
Made on production tooling, at production rate, by production operators. Anything else is a sample.
- Yes3 pts
- Partly representative1 pt
- No0 pts
Run Quantity
Run Duration
All Characteristics Conform*
- Yes3 pts
- Some marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Capability Meets Requirement*
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Deviations Documented*
- Yes3 pts
- None3 pts
- No0 pts
Approval
6 fieldsInternal Approval Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Submitted To Customer*
- Yes3 pts
- Pending1 pt
- Not required3 pts
Customer Decision*
- Approved3 pts
- Interim approval2 pts
- Rejected0 pts
- Awaiting1 pt
Interim Approval Conditions
Approved For Series Production*
- Yes3 pts
- Interim only1 pt
- No0 pts
Resubmission Trigger Defined*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Result
13 fieldsItems Assessed*
Excludes anything marked N/A.
Items Failed*
Score Percent*
Calculated on submission. High is good. N/A items leave the denominator.
Result Band*
- Pass3 pts
- Caution1 pt
- Fail0 pts
Completeness Percent*
How much of the template was actually answered. A high score on a half completed form is not a high score.
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Quality Engineer*
Signature*
Quality Manager*
Second Signature*
QUA-110 · record IDs look like PPA-2026-000 · Links Capability, First article
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The approval itself is a single decision. What slips afterwards is whether the evidence behind it was real, whether an interim condition ever closed, and whether a later process change ever reached the record.
Holds the approval record against the first article and capability records it references, and flags an evidence field marked complete with no document attached.
Feeds tooling and equipment change events into the resubmission trigger, so a tooling relocation reaches the approval record rather than only the maintenance log.
Tracks interim approvals against their stated expiry and flags one still open past its date, rather than waiting for an audit to find it.
This template lives in KnowQuality — quality and food safety. HACCP, nonconformance, traceability, laboratory and customer complaints.
Meet KnowQuality→Glossary
Production Part Approval Record definitions and key terms
- PPAP
- Production Part Approval Process: the evidence pack and sign-off that approves a part or process for ongoing series production, most established in automotive supply chains.
- Submission level
- The tier of documentation a customer requires, from a warrant alone at the lowest level to a full pack with the customer reviewing samples at the highest.
- Control plan
- A document describing the controls, checks and reaction plans applied at each stage of the process for a given part.
- Master sample
- A physical sample from the approved run, retained as the reference for what was actually approved.
- Interim approval
- A time-limited approval granted while a specific, named piece of evidence is still outstanding, distinct from full approval.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about production part approval record
Can this record be completed before the first article inspection?+
No, not meaningfully. It depends on evidence, capability, a significant production run, that a first article inspection alone does not generate. A successful first article is one input among several, not a stand-in for the rest.
What counts as a significant production run?+
Production tooling, at production rate, by production operators. The field's help text is explicit because the alternative, a slower or hand-assisted sample run, is common and looks similar on paper but proves nothing about how the process behaves at full rate.
Is interim approval the same as full approval?+
No. Interim approval is a time-limited status granted against a specific outstanding condition, and it needs both the condition and an expiry recorded. Left open with neither, it functions as an unlimited approval nobody intended to grant.
Does the customer always have to approve?+
No. Some customer relationships do not require external sign-off, and the field allows not required as a valid answer. Where a contract does require it, the submission has to actually have been sent before a decision can be recorded.
What triggers a resubmission?+
A change to the approved process: a new supplier, a relocated line, a material substitution, a tooling change. It has to be named at the point of approval, because the approval only covers the process as it existed then.
How does this record relate to a control plan or FMEA?+
It references them rather than replacing them. The evidence fields ask whether those documents exist and are complete; they are not where a control plan or FMEA gets written for the first time.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Statistical Process Control
Maintenance Calibration Record
Records calibration of maintenance instruments such as torque wrenches, pressure gauges and multimeters
Statistical Process Control Log
Records measurements over time so process variation can be seen and acted on before product fails
Process Capability Study
Measures whether a process can reliably hold its specification, using data from a stable run
Manufacturing First Article Inspection
Inspects the first part or pack off a setup against every specified characteristic before the run continues
Statistical Process Control Chart Review
Reviews control charts for a characteristic to see whether the process is stable and capable, not merely in specification
Statistical Process Capability Study
Establishes whether a process can consistently hold the tolerance it is asked to hold
More in Manufacturing Quality
Manufacturing First Article Inspection
Inspects the first part or pack off a setup against every specified characteristic before the run continues
Statistical Process Control Chart Review
Reviews control charts for a characteristic to see whether the process is stable and capable, not merely in specification
Statistical Process Capability Study
Establishes whether a process can consistently hold the tolerance it is asked to hold
Rework Instruction Record
Sets out how a specific batch is to be reworked, what checks apply and who authorised it
Customer Specific Requirement Review
Reviews requirements a customer imposes beyond the standard specification, and whether the site can meet them
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO 9001:2015 clause 8.6, Release of products and services
- ISO 9001:2015 clause 8.5.1, Control of production and service provision
- AIAG Production Part Approval Process manual, 4th edition
- IATF 16949:2016, Automotive quality management system requirements
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.