What is a Quality Gate?
A quality gate is a critical point or milestone in a project at which certain quality criteria are checked before the next project phase can start. If the quality criteria are not met at a quality gate, the next project phase cannot start. The goal of quality gates is to identify and solve problems at an early stage in order to reduce the effort and costs for rework and corrections.
How are quality gates used in manufacturing?
Quality gates are used in industrial manufacturing, among other applications. Typical industries in which quality gates are used are, for example, the automotive and aviation industries. In Germany, quality gates are used by major automotive manufacturers such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Depending on the company, different terms or synonyms are used for the inspection points. At Audi, quality gates are referred to as "Q-checks", while BMW uses the term "gateway".