Inspection Plans

1.0 Function

The bridge between engineering requirements and inspection activity

A drawing states what the product must be. It does not state how anyone confirms it, with what, how often, or against what acceptance limit once measurement uncertainty is taken into account. That gap is where inconsistent inspection comes from: two inspectors, two methods, two results, one argument.

The inspection plan closes it by making the method a decision that was made once, deliberately, by someone who looked at the tolerance, the feature, the datum scheme and the equipment actually available.

How characteristics become a plan

Extraction

Every requirement on the drawing, in referenced specifications and in the contract is identified — dimensional, geometric, material, process, finish, marking, packaging. Notes are requirements too, and they are the ones most often missed.

Method selection

Each characteristic is assigned a method that can actually resolve it. Tolerance against gauge discrimination, feature accessibility, fixturing, datum establishment, part deflection, surface condition and throughput all constrain what is realistic.

Sampling and frequency

Set against risk, criticality, process stability, run length and customer requirements — and stated in a way that survives contact with a production schedule.

Acceptance and reaction

What constitutes conformance, and what happens when a result falls outside it, including who is notified and what is done with the parts already produced.

AiroQue develops inspection planning documentation. AiroQue does not provide First Article Inspection services.