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Product industrialization roadmap · Milestone 3 of 8

Milestone 3: Product Architecture & Design Freeze

Stabilize the product architecture and design baseline sufficiently to release detailed engineering and industrial preparation.

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Automotive engineering illustration: Product Architecture & Design Freeze
Purpose and expected outputs

What must be demonstrated at this milestone?

Objective

Stabilize the product architecture and design baseline sufficiently to release detailed engineering and industrial preparation.

Universal gate mapping: Product architecture and design baseline freeze.

  • Released product definition, CAD and specifications
  • Critical characteristics, interfaces and design risks

Expected deliverables

  • Released product definition, CAD and specifications
  • Critical characteristics, interfaces and design risks
  • Verification and validation plan with controlled change rules

Readiness questions

  • What evidence proves the milestone objective has been achieved?
  • Which product, process, supplier or timing risks remain open?
  • Which design change, problem-solving action, APQP activity or approval is required next?
  • Who owns each action, and what is the due date and closure evidence?

Decision and evidence

Record the decision, the evidence reviewed, open risks, action owners and due dates. Do not treat an open issue as closed without documented verification. If a design change is needed, assess product interfaces, manufacturability, validation impact, quality documentation and affected approvals before implementation.

Use applicable APQP planning and production-part approval requirements as relevant to the product, customer and supply chain.

Connections to engineering and quality

Use milestone evidence to trigger the right work

Expected outputs should lead to practical decisions rather than a paperwork-only review. A gap in product definition may require a design change; a defect requires containment, root-cause analysis and effectiveness verification; a process risk may require an updated process flow, PFMEA or control plan; component and production readiness should be supported by appropriate validation and part-approval evidence.

  • Design changes: impact assessment, approval, traceability and validation
  • Problem solving: containment, root cause, permanent correction and recurrence prevention
  • APQP: cross-functional planning, risk management and evidence at the relevant development stage
  • PPAP or equivalent: submission and approval status according to applicable customer requirements

This is a public, universal guide inspired by general product-development deliverable principles. It does not reproduce any company's internal milestone codes, controlled checklist or customer-specific acceptance criteria.

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PRATIXUS guidance: tailor this checklist to the product, process, risk profile, supplier model and applicable customer requirements. Do not share confidential project records in public resources.