IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GP12 QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM: CASE STUDY OF A SUPPLIER OF THERMOPLASTICS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE SEGMENT OF JOINVILLE.

Abstract

GP-12 (Early Production Containment) is a quality tool used by General Motors to ensure the conformity of its suppliers' products during the new product development process. The objective of the study is to show how the GP12 was implemented in a thermoplastic injection company in Joinville in the recently launched GEM project, verifying if the implementation of the GP12 can guarantee the shipment of components to the assemblers with zero defects, since the guarantee of the quality is a system required by automakers to maintain contracts with their suppliers. If, during the 90-day period, the supplier presents zero defects, then it will be qualified to meet the production requirements as specified in the PPAP (Production Part Approval Process). To support this study, a bibliographic review was carried out on the quality process adopted by General Motors, known as advanced product quality planning ("advanced product quality planning" - APQP). The study was carried out from the determination of the area manager, delimitation of the conogram, definition of the physical arrangement, analysis of the project products, operational training until the arrival of the departure of the GP12 of the items that were submitted by the anticipated containment. This work concluded that the tool was effective, since all the objectives were achieved within the launch period, reaching the level of quality required by the automakers, despite the appearance of some problems detected internally, the implemented action plans were robust, guaranteeing the compliance of the processes at the automaker, thus preventing any non-compliance in the cars during their launch.