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Material Inspection Checklist

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Material inspection is an integral part of quality assurance in the manufacturing process. By verifying that the raw materials meet the required standards, potential quality issues can be identified and resolved before they cause problems in production.

This article helps to ensure that the products produced by the manufacturing facility meet the customer’s expectations for quality through a material inspection checklist.

Table of Contents:
1. Material Inspection and Its Importance
2. Guide to Material Inspections
3. Material Inspection Tagging System
4. Reliable Digital Material Inspection Checklist


Material Inspection and Its Importance

Man in uniform inside the warehouse doing inspection

A material inspection is a quality control check during the manufacturing process to ensure that the materials meet the required specifications. Material inspection, also known as incoming inspection, can be performed at various stages of production, including during the raw material stage, during processing, and before final assembly.

A safety engineer, quality manager, or other professional may conduct a material inspection. The scope of a material inspection will vary depending on the type of product being manufactured and the specific quality standards that must be met.

There are several different purposes for material inspections, including verifying compliance with specifications, identifying material defects, and ensuring that materials are compatible with other elements in the manufacturing process. In addition to improving product quality, material inspections can also help to improve efficiency and reduce costs by reducing scrap and rework.

In short, all material inspections share one common goal: to ensure that the finished product meets the highest possible quality standards.


Guide to Material Inspections

Production employee checking the quality of a liquid

When it comes to material inspection, there are a few key things to keep in mind.

  1. Ensure that the material is suitable for the intended purpose. For example, if it’s being used in a critical application, you’ll want to ensure that it meets all of the relevant safety and quality standards.
  1. Know what to look for when inspecting materials. There are a few key indicators of material quality, such as density, surface finish, and dimensional accuracy.
  1. Make sure that the material meets all of the necessary quality requirements. This includes checking for defects, impurities, functionality, and more.
  1. Consider the benefits of using the material in question. Is it more cost-effective than other options? Is it more durable? Is it easier to work with?

By considering all of these factors, you can ensure that you’re using the best possible material for your manufacturing needs. Many companies use an identification tagging system embedded in a checklist to streamline this process.


Material Inspection Tagging System

African American inspection engineer

The material inspection tagging system is essential in quality assurance and manufacturing. This system allows inspectors to quickly and easily identify which materials meet the acceptance criteria specified in the purchase order.  Acceptance criteria include (but are not limited to) physical tests, functional tests, and conformity between purchase requirements and the quality record received. By assessing a material utilizing these criteria, three possible results can be indicated:

  1. Acceptable –  Once the material is inspected and found to meet the necessary quality standards, it can be tagged as accepted and used in manufacturing. This helps to ensure that only material of the highest quality is used in the manufacturing process, and it also helps to keep track of which material has been inspected and accepted.
  1. Rejected – Materials classified as “rejected” do not meet all requirements and cannot be used. Rejected materials must be appropriately tagged and removed from the manufacturing process to prevent any issues with the final product. Although it may result in a production schedule shortage or instability, rejecting materials prevents more costly manufacturing issues, such as producing unsafe or faulty items in vast quantities. Rejecting materials might cause delays, but it avoids costly manufacturing problems such as producing hazardous or defective items in enormous quantities.
  1. Conditional – In some cases, materials may be classified as “conditional.” This means that they do not meet all of the requirements but can be used if they are correctly modified or will not affect the final product quality. Material with minor defects, such as packaging damage and painting conditions, can fall into this category. Reporting these findings to the supplier will help prevent similar issues from happening again in the future.

The identification tagging system is a vital quality control tool that helps to ensure that materials meet the quality specified in the purchase order. When conducting a material inspection, it’s crucial to have a checklist on hand to ensure that all necessary requirements are being met.


Reliable Digital Material Inspection Checklist

Warehouse of raw materials

A material inspection checklist helps to ensure that all of the critical quality parameters are met. A few different aspects should be included in a material inspection checklist:

  1. There should be a check for the manufacturing date. This is important to ensure that the material is still within its usable lifespan.
  1. There should be a check for any damage that may have occurred during shipping or storage.
  1. There should be a check for the material’s overall quality. This includes reviews for size, shape, surface finish, and material properties. In addition, a material inspection can help to identify defects such as cracks, voids, or inclusions

It’s hard to keep track of all the materials that come into your factory and even harder to know which ones are ready for production.

Factory workers often spend hours each day sorting through raw materials, trying to determine which ones are ready for assembly. This process can be time-consuming and error-prone.

FAT FINGER is a trusted quality management tool that helps manufacturers quickly and easily tag materials as accepted, conditionally accepted, or rejected during pre-production, which saves time and money by catching quality issues early. With FAT FINGER, you can:

– Perform incoming inspections offline or online
– Schedule regular inspections and quality audits
– Capture photo evidence of tagged raw materials
– Automatically generate and share reports
– Assign actions for rejected/conditionally accepted items
– Gather digital signatures to authenticate results
-Customize according to your material inspection needs

FAT FINGER digital material inspection template helps to ensure that all these necessary checks are being made and that nothing is overlooked during the material inspection process.

FAT FINGER is an essential tool for any manufacturer that wants to ensure the highest quality of their products. By performing regular inspections and quality audits, FAT FINGER helps you prevent expensive defects from reaching the customer.

View of material inspection checklist in FAT FINGER

With FAT FINGER, you can be confident that your manufacturing process is running smoothly and that any quality issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.


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FAT FINGER uses machine learning to coach app users in real-time to make safer and improved decisions.

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