1.0 Purpose
A document that has to work on a Tuesday afternoon
Most Control Plans are written for an auditor and used by nobody. The test AiroQue applies is different: if the regular operator is out, a machine is handed to someone on second shift, and the part is running against a tight datum scheme, does the Control Plan tell that person what to check, how, how often, and what to do when it fails?
That is a harder standard than filling in a matrix. It means every row has to name a real gauge that exists in your building, a frequency someone can actually hold, and a reaction that a person with authority can carry out without calling a meeting.
Built from four inputs, not from a template
AiroQue develops Control Plans using the applicable engineering requirements, manufacturing processes, risk analysis, customer requirements and quality-system requirements supplied by you. Each input does a specific job:
Engineering requirements
Drawing, model, specifications and referenced documents establish what the product must be, which tolerances are tight relative to process capability, and which features carry design intent that is easy to lose in manufacturing.
The manufacturing process
The released routing tells us the sequence. A conversation with manufacturing engineering tells us what really happens — the second op that gets combined, the deburr that is not on the router, the parts that go out for finishing and come back for final.
Risk analysis
The PFMEA determines which characteristics need a control at all, what kind of control, and how much detection is warranted. Without it, a Control Plan is a list of dimensions with frequencies attached by habit.
Customer and quality-system requirements
These govern format, classification symbols, retention, approval routing and what has to be submitted. They are the reason two Control Plans for near-identical parts can look nothing alike.
- Deliverable
- Released Control Plan covering the operations in scope, with revision identification and a change summary
- Typical inputs
- Drawing or model, released routing, existing PFMEA if one exists, customer format requirements, gauge list
- Formats
- Your customer's template, your internal template, or an AiroQue format in Excel or PDF
- Starting price
- $750 — standard part
$1,500 — complex aerospace part - Scales with
- Characteristic count, operation count, special processes, outside processing, format complexity
- Revision support
- Available per revision or through a monthly agreement
- Related
- PFMEA, Inspection Plans, Reaction Plans
2.0 Content
What each row of a completed Control Plan carries
Consistent fields across every operation, so a reviewer can move from receiving to shipping without re-learning the document.
| Operation and process stepTraceable to the released routing | Where the control is applied, using your operation numbering so the plan and the traveller agree. |
| Product characteristicWhat the part must be | The feature or attribute being controlled, with the requirement and its source on the drawing or specification. |
| Process characteristicWhat produces it | The parameter that drives the product characteristic — speed, feed, pressure, temperature, cure time, torque. |
| ClassificationSpecial, key or critical | Applied using the designations and symbols your customer, drawing, contract or quality system defines. |
| Specification and toleranceThe acceptance limit | Stated as it appears in the requirement, including datum references where the measurement depends on them. |
| Measurement method and equipmentHow it is verified | Named method and equipment type, with gauge identification where your system requires it and fixturing noted where it matters. |
| Sample size and frequencyHow many, how often | Set against risk, process stability, run length and detection needs — including first-piece and set-up verification. |
| Control methodPrevention or detection | The mechanism that keeps the process in limits, cross-referenced to the PFMEA control it came from. |
| Reaction planWhen it is out | A specific sequence, or a controlled reference to one. See Service 08. |
| RecordsEvidence and traceability | What gets recorded, on what form, where it is retained, and what has to be traceable to lot, heat or serial. |
3.0 Failure patterns
Five ways Control Plans quietly stop being true
These are the conditions AiroQue looks for first when reviewing an existing document.
Inherited from a similar part
The plan was copied from a part family member, the operation numbers were updated, and the characteristics that only apply to the other part came along for the ride.
Every dimension, no priority
All 140 drawing dimensions were transcribed into the plan at the same frequency. Nothing is emphasized, so nothing is really controlled, and inspection cannot hold the frequency.
Frequencies set by habit
“First and last, 1 per 25” appears on every row regardless of risk, process capability or how long the run actually is.
Gauges that no longer exist
The plan calls out equipment that was replaced, recalibrated out of service, or was only ever available in the prototype cell.
Reaction column boilerplate
Every row says the same thing. When something goes out, the operator's actual decision is unwritten, and containment depends on who is working that day.
What AiroQue needs to start
Enough to be accurate, and nothing you cannot release yet. If technical data cannot move until an NDA is in place, say so first — that is normal.
- Drawing or model at the current revision
- Released routing or traveller
- Existing Control Plan and PFMEA, if any
- Customer format, template or quality clauses
- Gauge and equipment list, or access to ask
- Known problem history on the part or family
4.0 Tailoring
Your format, your classification scheme, your wording
There is no AiroQue house Control Plan that every customer receives. The document is built to drop into your system and satisfy the party who will review it.
Tailored to the reviewer
A Control Plan is read by your quality team, your operators, your customer's supplier quality engineer and your registrar. AiroQue writes it for whichever of those has the strictest expectation.
Column set and layout
Use your customer's mandated template, your existing internal form, or an AiroQue format. Columns can be added, removed, merged or renamed to match what your reviewers expect to find and where.
Classification symbols and definitions
Special, key and critical designations follow the definitions and symbols your customer, drawing or quality system provides. AiroQue applies what you supply and does not invent designations.
Characteristic numbering
Numbering can follow your drawing balloon scheme, your inspection record numbering, an operation-based scheme, or your customer's required convention so cross-references line up.
Phase and scope
Prototype, pre-launch and production plans differ in frequency and detection. The plan can be issued for one phase or built as a set that steps down as the process proves out.
Language and reading level
Wording can be written for engineers, for the shop floor, or bilingual where your workforce needs it — using your plant's terminology for operations, equipment and departments.
File format and system
Delivered as Excel, PDF, or content structured for entry into your QMS or ERP module, with revision blocks matching your document-control conventions.
5.0 Adjacent services
Documents that connect to this one
Need a Control Plan built or brought current?
Send the drawing, the routing and the existing plan if there is one. AiroQue will tell you whether it needs a review or a rewrite, then quote a fixed price against your format.