"Maturation Level" Request: Uh?

We are schedule to do a certification event for a customer who has asked what the "Maturation Level" of the parts will be at the time of the event. Can someone help me understand this please? New to QMS. Tried to research this, but not much luck. Thanks. -pg

 

Good day Patrick -
Based on your customer's question, I am assuming you are tier 2 or 3 in the automotive industry (please advise if otherwise). It is likely, therefore, that they are referring to an OEM vernacular regarding the maturation of the tooling and/or process. Generally the terms are something like "T0, T1, T2, T3, T4. These terms (again, depending on the OEM/customer, are used to refer to the tool/process maturation. For example, T0 may be a "drawing only" in regards to tool development, and "off line"- with allowable hand working in regards to process development. Conversely, T4 may refer to mass production level tooling and an on-line, at rate, no hand working process development. I would suggest you request a matrix from the customer that lists their particular vernacular and the definition for each. Embedded is a truncated (for purposes of proprietary requirements) example. Hope this helps.