1.0 Definition
Readiness is a documentation question more often than a capability one
By the time a part reaches first production, the process usually works. What is missing is quieter: a control that was agreed in a meeting and never written down, an inspection method that assumes a gauge still on order, a work instruction describing the prototype fixture, an action from the last review that nobody closed.
Those gaps do not stop the first run. They surface three weeks later as scrap, an escape, or a customer audit finding — at which point the fix costs considerably more than it would have before release.
Five conditions AiroQue tests for
For the documentation in scope, each one is answered with evidence rather than an opinion:
- It exists — the document is written, not planned
- It is correct — it reflects the current drawing revision and the current process
- It is consistent — it agrees with the other documents in the set
- It is available — it is where the person who needs it will actually find it
- It is executable — the equipment, gauges, fixtures and skills it assumes are present
- Deliverable
- Readiness assessment with findings, status by area, and a tracked open-action list
- Typical inputs
- Full documentation set, routing, gauge and equipment status, program schedule, customer gate criteria
- Formats
- Your gate review format, a scored assessment, or a findings-and-actions report
- Starting price
- Quoted by scope
- Scales with
- Number of parts, size of the documentation set, whether re-review after closure is included
- Timing
- Before first production run, at a program gate, or after a significant process change
- Follow-on
- Re-assessment after actions close, and revision of the documents found deficient
2.0 Coverage
What the review examines
Process documentation
Process Flow matches the released routing and the intended production cell, including outside processing and the interfaces around it.
PFMEA readiness
The analysis covers the process as it will run at rate, and the actions it generated are closed or formally accepted as open with a rationale.
Control Plan readiness
Every control is executable with equipment on site, at a frequency production can hold at rate, with reactions someone can perform.
Inspection readiness
Methods defined, gauges available and calibrated, fixtures built, acceptance criteria unambiguous, records prepared.
Work-instruction readiness
Instructions exist for the operations that need them, reflect the production configuration, and are available at the station.
Risk-control verification
Controls the PFMEA relied on are confirmed to be in place in reality, not merely in the document.
Special characteristics
Designations flowed through, with monitoring and capability requirements addressed where the customer imposes them.
Documentation gaps
Anything required by the customer, contract or quality system that has not been produced yet.
Open actions
Every outstanding item with an owner, a date and a clear statement of what closure requires.
3.0 Tailoring
Assessed against your gate criteria, reported to your audience
A readiness report is usually read by a program manager and a customer representative, not by the quality team who commissioned it.
Their criteria, their format
Where your customer defines readiness or gate criteria, the assessment is run against those. Where they do not, AiroQue proposes criteria and you approve them before the review starts.
Criteria source
Customer gate criteria, your internal launch checklist, or a criteria set AiroQue drafts and you approve — agreed in writing before the assessment so nothing is judged against a moving standard.
Reporting format
Narrative findings, a status-by-area summary for a program review, or a scored assessment where your organization uses scoring.
Action tracking
Delivered into your existing action tracker, or maintained by AiroQue through to closure with re-verification at the end.
Depth
Documentation-only review, or a review extended to confirm on site that the controls, gauges and instructions are physically present and in use.
4.0 Adjacent services
Feeds and follow-ons
First production run approaching?
A readiness review is considerably cheaper than the corrective action that follows an escape in the first month of production.