The planning tools aren't separate. They hand off to each other in a chain:
- Specifications. What the product must do, with numbers and limits.
- Characteristics. The features of the part or process that deliver each spec.
- FMEA. How each characteristic could fail, how bad, how likely, how catchable.
- Control plan. For the risky ones, what gets checked, how often, and the reaction.
APQP runs the chain in order. The AIAG manuals list the control plan as an output of the design and process phases, built from the FMEA.
Why the links matter
Break a link and something slips through.
- A spec with no characteristic is a wish nobody designs for.
- A characteristic missing from the FMEA is a risk nobody scored.
- A high-risk row missing from the control plan is a risk you found and never check.
That last one is the classic. Teams do a careful FMEA, then write a control plan from a template. The two never meet.
How a bot keeps the chain
Give each item an ID and carry it through:
| Spec | Characteristic | FMEA row | Control plan row |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1: Report fits one screen | C1: 40 lines max | F3: Too long, reader skips actions (S5) | — below the line |
| S2: Every figure correct | C2: Every number has a source | F1: Made-up figure (S7) | CP1: Check sources, every report |
| S3: Goes only to the team | C3: Recipient list from current file | F2: Wrong list (S8) | CP2: Person reviews recipients |
Now a bot can check the chain mechanically:
- Every spec has at least one characteristic.
- Every characteristic appears in the FMEA.
- Every FMEA row above the line, and every severe row, has a control plan row.
A bot is good at this kind of cross-check. A person doing it by hand on a hundred rows misses things.
When something changes
Change a spec and you walk the chain again. Which characteristics move? Which FMEA rows need rescoring? Which controls change? Rescore only the rows the change touches. See Change on purpose.
Where bots differ
The chain only works if the first link is real. If the spec came from the bot guessing what the customer wanted, the whole chain is careful work built on a guess. The specs come from the customer and the drawings. The bot keeps the links. A person signs off.
Back to Engineering tools for bots.