No matter whether you are a company that trades, or forward logistics, or an engineering company, or a plant or firm owner, you need to know the character and compliance of your product, both for knowing your credibility as a business, as well as for legal reasons.
This will help you be prepared for the future when it comes to upgrading or updating your products. This is when specialized engineering services steps foot.
Inspection services are not conducted by the company, instead, a third-party firm is hired. Why you ask? Firstly, because this does not fall in any department’s concern of work, secondly, personnel hired should be skilled specifically for this purpose, and thirdly, because there is always a fear of results being forged.
Now, let us take you through five different types of inspection services, and what to expect of them.
- FAI or First Article Inspection
A documented and functional inspection process, which is usually conducted before a factory or firm starts manufacturing samples in bulk. That is why it is “FIRST.” This test or examination is complete and independent by nature.
What will it comprise of? This test would take engineering, design, and specifications under consideration, and in the end, all this would be accounted for, verified, and recorded.
- PPI or Pre-Production Inspection
When FAI is conducted before production, why is PPI necessary? How are they both similar? What is the purpose of this test? Don’t worry, we will answer all your questions. This examination is conducted before production happens on a large scale and focuses on one aspect more than others, and that is raw materials.
Raw materials are one of those things which aren’t produced by most factories and firms themselves, so, there is always a practice of reducing costs being spent on them.
Factories often buy substandard materials that hamper the quality of the final product. This test is to avoid that situation and is conducted to inspect the quality of raw materials. This inspection would also continue once production has started, in order to approve samples and specification of patterns.
- DPI or During Production Inspection
DPI or During Production Inspection is one of the most underrated inspection tests, both, from the producer’s perspective, as well as the buyer’s perspective.
The idea behind conducting this test is to cross-check whether things are fine, during and throughout the production cycle, from the producer’s perspective, and to also know the average product quality from the buyer’s perspective.
In that case, if issues are detected, the produced goods can be reworkable and products can be improvised in a cost-effective manner.
And from the buyer’s perspective, especially importers, they do not have to wait until the final inspection tests to place the order. Long story short, this kind of inspection helps avoid delays and reduces the dependence on final inspection.
- PSI or Pre-Shipment Inspection
This is one of the most common types of quality inspection services also known as Pre-Shipment Inspection. These are one of those tests, in which a third party arrives randomly before the shipment actually takes place and exactly why it is also called a Final Random Inspection.
PSI is usually conducted when 100% of production is done, and 80% is packed for shipment. This inspection allows you to see whether the suppliers are or aren’t playing dirty and gives the buyer power. Clients are always recommended to carry these tests if they wish to avoid the last-minute disaster.
- Container Loading Supervision
Just like the name suggests, this inspection involves the loading and safety of the product, for the buyer. Not just this, this also aims to monitor the quantity and quality of the shipment and ensures whether they are in sync with that of the buyer’s demand.
This inspection becomes extremely crucial when the buyer has a precise loading plan, which needs to be followed no matter what, even when the packaging is non-conventional.
So, these were the five kinds of inspection services in quality control. Understand that it is very important, even if you are a local producer or buyer, or even an importer or exporter, these tests must be carried out with utmost efficiency.