First Part Approval

Synopsis

• Business Challenge: Standardize an inconsistent paper-based First Part Approval process and ensure production was properly validated before routine manufacturing began.
• Solution: Enterprise Power Platform workflow for production validation, sales order verification, machine and process checks, photo documentation, and electronic approval between Quality and Production.
• Business Impact: Established a required digital First Part Approval process across seven manufacturing facilities, improving accountability, auditability, visibility into incomplete approvals, and consistency in production startup validation.
• My Contribution: Led process discovery, workflow design, application development, data modeling, electronic approval routing, deployment refinement, and ongoing stakeholder collaboration.

Business Challenge

First Part Approval is a critical quality process that validates product specifications before routine manufacturing begins. Prior to this application, the process relied on paper documentation that was completed inconsistently across manufacturing sites. Some facilities followed the process regularly while others used it only intermittently, making it difficult to verify compliance or ensure production had been properly validated.

The paper process also limited accountability and made historical inspections difficult to retrieve. Quality and Production shared responsibility for completing First Part Approvals, but without a standardized workflow there was little visibility into overdue, incomplete, or missing approvals As a result, production could begin without consistent documentation that parts and manufacturing conditions had been properly validated.

Solution

The Digital First Part Approval application replaced the legacy paper process with a standardized enterprise workflow used across all manufacturing facilities. Production notified Quality when a new part was scheduled for manufacture, allowing a Quality Technician to initiate the approval process before routine production began.

The application captured a comprehensive production validation record including machine conditions, process parameters, branding verification, dimensional measurements, visual inspections, photographs, and standardized quality checklists. Completed inspections were validated against internal sales order information to verify that manufactured parts matched the required product specification.

Electronic approval by Production shift leadership established accountability across both Quality and Manufacturing while creating a searchable digital record that remained available throughout the life of the product.

Business Impact

The application transformed First Part Approval into a standardized enterprise process that became required across all seven manufacturing facilities. Every approval was captured electronically, providing complete visibility into inspection activity while replacing fragmented paper records with a centralized quality management solution.

Quality leadership could quickly identify incomplete or overdue approvals, retrieve historical inspections for audits, and verify that production validation had been completed before manufacturing proceeded. By improving accountability and ensuring consistent execution of the First Part Approval process, the solution supported more consistent production startup validation and improved overall process visibility.

My Contribution

I worked closely with Quality and Manufacturing stakeholders to understand the existing First Part Approval process and identify opportunities to standardize it across the organization. I designed the end-to-end digital workflow, developed the Power Platform solution, modeled the supporting data structures, and implemented electronic approval routing between Quality and Production.

The application was designed to support real-world manufacturing operations while balancing usability, accountability, and long-term maintainability. Following deployment, I continued working with stakeholders to refine the solution based on operational feedback and evolving business requirements.