CHAPTER 3: Quality inspection

Quality Inspection
• ISO standard defines inspection as ” activity of measuring,
examining, testing one or more characteristics of product or service
and comparing the results with specified requirements in order to
establish whether conformity is achieved for each characteristic.”

• Raw material, partially or completely finished components of the

product can be inspected based on some standards, specifications,
or requirements including the measurement of the product to ensure
the satisfaction of the customers.
 Inspection loop
Inspection

Correction of
Detection of defects
defects

Determination of Feedback of these defects

causes of defects to appropriate personnel
Inspection systems

Where to inspect
the product ?
Pre-production inspection

• Pre-production inspection is a type of proactive inspection used by

manufacturers to qualify a new part or assembly to predetermined quality
standards

• To make certain they are suitable for the end product

• Verification of features like colors, dimensions, microstructure, and weights

are areas of focus for conducting quality control.

• Pre-production can also be useful for prototype verification, initial product

testing, and for verification of mass production processes. .
 .count.
• Pre-production inspection saves manufacturers costs and
headaches, avoiding many problems like unwanted rejects,
customer renegotiation, and wasted labor and materials

• In the end, the earlier you catch issues, the easier and cheaper it is
to find a solution.
 In-Line Inspection:
• Perform in - line inspection and end-of-line inspection in production
department.

• Perform during pre-final audit and final inspection in finishing

department.

• Audit of the packed goods prior to offering shipment to buyer QA.

• Responsible for analysis quality reports and prepare improvement plan.

• Ensuring the right quality of the outward product by conducting quality

audits in manufacturing process.
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• In-line inspectors are stationed at several places in the line depending upon
the complexity of the product and the quality strategies of the company.

• For example, one in-line inspector might be responsible for inspecting only
the setting of pockets and zippers on a pair of pants.

Advantages of in-process inspection

1. Reduction of major supervision from the customers due to bad quality

2. Decrease in labor cost due to a decrease in repair rates.

End line inspection
• It is an inspection in the manufacturing process, and refers to the inspection performed
in the final stage of manufacturing process

• found at the end of the production line, is often called End line inspection/trim and
inspect.

• Most of the time It is based on a 100% inspection system, which means that each and
every garment is inspected.

• The inspectors examine each garment for defects and trim any excessively long,
dangling threads missed by the sewing operators

• Any defective product found are sent back for rework or repair
 Tools inspection

• Tools inspection helps to prevent lots too many defects getting through to
production and causing problem there.

• It means identify problems on the tools and justify whether the right tools are
used to the right position or place.

• Tools inspection is done at each production department.

• For example, in case of leather garment production, tools inspection is done in

leather processing department, in cutting department, in design and pattern
making department, in sewing department and in finishing department
Purchased parts inspection

• Although labor intensive and costly, 100% inspection is considered

essential for wet -processed products due to the harsh agitation of wet
processing.
• Newly purchased parts, safety stock pre-purchased parts etc. can inspect..
Defects in manufacturing industries
• Product variation is a normal result of manufacturing processes.

• It is impossible to make each product exactly like the previous one

• Factors that contribute to variation include materials, equipment, operators, manufacturing

processes, the environment, and the inspection system.

• As a result of these factors, variation may occur within a single component of a product, between
components of the same product, line etc.

• To establish acceptable levels of variation, tolerances are stated as a part of style specifications.
The variations in attributes are evaluated to determine whether the amounts and types of variation
are within tolerances.

• Variations that exceed tolerances or do not meet specifications are called defects
 Defects classification

Defects according to (C Besterfield, 2000, TQM 3rd edition ) are also categorized as:

To determine whether a defect is critical, major or minor, the following features will be
considered:

• A Critical defect is one that is deemed to be hazardous or unsafe, prohibited characters.

• A Major defect is one that is likely to create failure of the unit for its intended purpose.

• Minor defect is a discrepancy from the standards, but one that is not likely to affect the
usability of an object.
Critical Defects:
• hazardous or unsafe conditions for individuals using

• maintaining the products as well as defects contriving legal regulations

• Critical defects are defects that are not allowed to be shipped and the most serious
of defects (0%).

• Missing of Destination /Label/Barcode/ etc.

• Chemical Restriction – AZO dyes – other chemical Restriction.

• Children Safety Care (Pull test/Needle Detector test/Nickel test)

• Missing of Flammability Instruction.

 Major Defects

• This is a defect which is sufficient to cause the product to be considered as

second’s quality

• A defect which is obvious

• Affects the salability or serviceability which worsens with wear and time

• Varies significantly from the approval product specification

• Major defects are serious defects that are not allowed over a certain percentage
(3%) depending on buyer’s requirements.
 Minor Defects

This is a defect which would not normally be identified by the customer, but
is, however less than the agreed quality standard. A defect which

• Does not affect the performance of the product in normal conditions

• Is not noticeable to the customer on purchasing

• Is not noticeable to the user of the product, or anyone adjacent

• Will not worsen with time and wear

• Minor defects are defects that are not allowed over a certain percentage
depending on buyers requirements (5%).
How to measure Defects and Defective Pieces?

1. Defects per hundred units (DHU) –

Percent Defective (%) – total number of defective pieces in 100 checked
garments.
Percentage defective = Total no. of defective pieces X 100 / Total pieces
checked
Advantage and importance
• Avoid wastage of time and money
• Avoid the unnecessarily use of resource
• Helps in timely delivery of goods
• Guarantees customers satisfaction
 2. Four Point System
• It was published in 1959 by the National Association of Shirt Pajama
Sportswear Manufacturers

• It got the biggest support for American Society for Quality Control.

• It was endorsed by federal government for military inspection and

American Apparel Manufacturers Association
Four point system
• The 4 – Point System, also called the American Apparel Manufacturers‟
Association (AAMA) point grading system.

Length of defects Point allotted

Four point system
Acceptable quality label(AQL)

• AQL standard result in Acceptance sampling that was popularized by Dodge

and Roming (pioneers of modern Quality Control) and was originally
applied by the U.S. military for testing bullets during World War II.

• The dilemma was, if every bullet was tested in advance, no bullets would be
able to ship on time. If, on the other hand, no bullets were checked.

• In any business process, before accepting the finished goods from the
manufacturer buyer do inspection of goods.
…count.
• The AQL (Acceptable Quality Level) is the maximum per cent defective
that for the purpose of sampling inspection can be considered satisfactory
as a process average.

• AQL is one of the most frequently used terms when it comes to quality in
the apparel export industry.

• Using As most of the acceptance decisions of the apparel shipments

• The AQL level varies process to process, product to product and even
buyer to buyer.
 How to Read AQL table?
 Lot or Batch size: This means total how many pieces inspector is going to check or inspect.
 Sample size Code letter: This code is indicative a range of batch size.
 Sample size: It means that how many pieces will be picked up for inspection from the total offered
pieces (Batch).
 Ac (Accepted): The number in this column denotes that if the inspector finds up to that much
defective pieces the shipment will be accepted by buyer.
 Re (Rejected): On the other hand number in this column denotes that if the inspector finds that
much defective pieces or more than the listed number, the shipment will be rejected (or asked to the
manufacturer for 100% inspection and re-offer for final inspection) by buyer.
 Acceptable Quality level
Lot or Batch size Sample Sample 2.5 4.0 6.5
size Code Size Ac Re Ac Re Ac Re
Letter

2–8 A 2 0 1 0 1 0 1
9 – 15 B 3 0 1 0 1 0 1
15 – 25 C 5 0 1 0 1 0 1
26 – 50 D 8 0 1 1 2 1 2
51-90 E 13 1 2 1 2 2 3
91-150 F 20 1 2 2 3 3 4
151-280 G 32 2 3 3 4 5 6
251-500 H 50 3 4 5 6 7 8
501-1200 J 80 5 6 7 8 10 11
1201-3200 K 125 7 8 10 11 14 15
3201-10000 L 200 10 11 14 15 21 22
10001-35000 M 315 14 15 21 22 21 22
What AQL is Not?

• Having known what is AQL? How does it work? How to succeed in AQL
based inspections? It is equally important to now, as indicated below, what
AQL is not:
• A permit to ship defective goods to the tune of agreed AQL level.
• A guarantee that all shipments passed as per AQL plan will definitely
contain lower percent defective than the specified AQL.
• An indicator of the quality level achieved by a manufacturer.
Leather grading system.
The SATRA system is known as the ‘5 point grading system’. This requires that every skin in
the delivery is visually inspected and assigned to one of a number of pre-determined bands of
usability. Each band represents a spread of 5 percentage points
Leather area measuring with grid
• using plastic grid, sandwiching the leather between the table and
grid ,count the areas of full squares, count half, Estimation irregulars..
• etc.
Area measuring by machine
• The skin can also measured by electronic area measuring machine
 Pin wheel
Leather presses the pins in the pinwheel up and down to show the presence or
absence of the leather at the desired position thus creating the map of the
leather on a paper sheet or on a dial.
The area of leather is then calculated from the pin press record.
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