What is first article inspection (FAI)

First Article Inspection (FAI) is a systematic sampling inspection procedure that ensures quality. It is a method of conducting inspections strictly in accordance with the requirements of the bill of materials and drawing specifications, in order to identify unknown issues and check the objectivity and accuracy of the parts themselves or in the process, in order to verify that the production, design, and supply concepts meet the final requirements.

What is first article (batch) sample inspection
First article sampling inspection is usually applied during the first individual assembly of the product, receipt of key components, technical changes, and regular audits to determine compliance with the end customer’s requirements. Its purpose is to ensure that the quality of the deliverables is at an acceptable level, thereby ensuring customer satisfaction with the deliverables. Its implementation is generally divided into three stages: sampling, evaluation, and recording.

1、 Firstly, a sample inspection is conducted. During this inspection process, the test samples must be combined with the customer’s drawings and other information to comprehensively verify and extract all technical characteristics of the modified samples, so that they can be compared in detail with the design requirements. The product quality is also thoroughly inspected to effectively detect potential defects and quality problems in the process, thereby ensuring that the final delivered product meets the customer’s requirements in terms of quality.

2、 Then, conduct an evaluation. By conducting a systematic evaluation of the samples extracted from the first article sampling inspection test according to the specifications required by the customer, it is determined whether the current product can meet the customer’s standards, that is, whether it is qualified; If there are any violations of customer and quality requirements, timely detection and correction of errors can effectively prevent the spread of quality problems.

3、 Finally, it’s about recording. During the first article sampling inspection process and audit, there should be appropriate written and visual records to demonstrate the effectiveness of the testing work conducted, and relevant changes and non conformities should be documented in the form of documents. This can make future remedial measures and other subsequent audits more effectively managed.
In general, first article sampling inspection is a systematic inspection procedure whose ultimate goal is to ensure that the deliverables meet customer requirements. Continuously improving the first article inspection procedure and enhancing the quality management function in first article sampling inspection can help ensure that the final delivered products are safer, more reliable, and more efficient in meeting customer needs, which is conducive to improving the competitiveness of the enterprise.
First Article (Lot) Inspection refers to the inspection of a certain quantity of raw materials or finished products with specific conditions and special performance requirements, evaluating their quality and the qualification of their production system. It closely combines development research, quality design, and technical review to conduct physical inspection of new materials, new processes, new assembly methods, and new products, in order to confirm that the performance and quality of the product meet the design requirements and that the production system can provide quality. The first piece (batch) sample inspection includes organizing product quality review, material identification review, production technology standard review, and key component inspection.

1、 Organize product quality review
Usually, the review process is divided into design stage inspection and production preparation stage inspection. The inspection of design details includes design specifications, part drawings, requirements, and safety performance to ensure the complete, correct, and suitable raw materials, accessories, and processes used in the manufacturing and assembly of parts; The correct use of quality documents and procedures, the implementation of reasonable and feasible production management procedures, to ensure the satisfaction of quality requirements.

2、 Material identification review
In addition, during the inspection process, attention should be paid to the quality identification of raw materials, components, and other materials, as well as the review of material procurement technical requirements and the implementation of material procurement inspections, such as inspection result application, approval, technical requirement inspection, factory inspection, customer approval, etc.

3、 Review of Production Technology Standards
Production technology standards are the foundation and guarantee for product quality control, and technical specifications and inspection parameters should be reviewed. Set effective technical parameters based on quality standards, determine inspection methods and samples, review the “three guarantees” specifications and processing, as well as the implementation of new equipment, processes, assembly processes, and work projects, to ensure the rationality of subsets of technical specifications.

4、 Key component inspection
Some components should be noted during inspection: the important parameters of most raw material production batches, such as surface quality, size, and shape, are easily affected by environmental factors. If the wrong materials are used, it can easily cause product performance loss, and even cause major disasters, which are difficult to control; For secondary components, advanced technology such as numerical control or measurement and control technology is used to inspect the materials; For important node inspections, such as metal component joints, effectively suppress and control welding quality, tighten and adjust tooling dimensions to prevent external conditions from affecting, and implement standardized testing; By adopting automatic delivery, automatic collection, and intelligent inspection technology, the correction degree of each component is accurately detected to ensure the pass rate of key component inspection.

In short, the inspection of first article (batch) samples is a key link in production activities, and the implementation and improvement of quality standards can meet production objectives. This is also an important part of quality management, which aims to inspect and analyze risks, eliminate existing quality problems, ensure product quality, and achieve the goal of accurate production and sales.