The qualification process is the entire route to follow from the first application as potential supplier, usually on the customer’s web portal, until the final approval.
You can find an example of this supplier assessment process here (Link to blog/news/applying as a new supplier of PSA Group).
The product release process is linked to the technical specification, the performance level, and how to test it. The expected performance level can be higher than the actual performance of your product. To discover if your product performance is compliant with the potential customer’s expectation, you will have to test it.
But testing and product evaluation is also part of the technical specification. If we take the above LV 3123 standard of the German automotive industry, the test methods and testing equipment is different from those required by PSA Group.
You can ask an outside laboratory to perform the test for you. The laboratory must be certified by PSA Group. They are mostly in France. For some tests, the outside laboratory, even certified, may not have the proper equipment. It is because some tests are done internally by suppliers, who invested in such equipment.
Getting a technical release for a product is opening doors. It is worth the investment.