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Checklist · AQL-E12

First-Piece Inspection Checklist

Release every setup on evidence: nineteen setup checks, the first piece measured characteristic by characteristic with fail and near-limit flags, a suggested decision, and a shop-wide log that shows which setups keep needing a second try.

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Page 1 of the First-Piece Inspection Checklist

Page 1 of the PDF. Every resource includes a fully worked example.

Part of the FAI and Production Readiness Kit9 of 9← Inspection Planning Worksheet

The problem it solves

A setup is the most likely place for a good process to make a bad part: the wrong program revision, an offset carried over from the last job, a fixture from the wrong shelf, a gauge that was not mastered. The first piece is meant to catch it, but in many shops it is a quick check of two dimensions by the person who set up the machine, recorded as a signature. When a lot is scrapped, nobody can say what the first piece showed. This checklist makes the first piece a real gate: the setup checked against the documents, every characteristic the operation produces measured with values where it matters, a clear release decision, and a log that turns repeated setup trouble into something you can fix.

Who uses it

Setup machinists and operators, inspectors who release setups, supervisors and manufacturing engineers who read the log.

When

At every new or repeat setup, after a program edit, after a tool change on a key feature, after a repair or crash, and at shift start where the control plan asks for it. The very first part of a new part's first production run is a first article (AQL-D07), not only a first piece.

Free to use, change and copy, in your own organization or with your clients; add your own logo, keep the Aegis credit. Part of: FAI and Production Readiness Kit. Clause references: 8.5.1; also 7.1.5, 7.2, 8.5.1.1, 8.6, 8.7.1 (numbers only; use your own licensed copy of the standard).

Aegis Insights inside. Wherever this resource gives our own guidance, it is labeled Aegis Insights, so you always know what is our experience and what a standard or your customer requires.

A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard.

How to put it to work

Chapters of our free guides that use this tool.

  1. The kit and how the tools connectThe FAI and Production Readiness Kit Handbook, chapter 2
  2. The workflowThe FAI and Production Readiness Kit Handbook, chapter 3
  3. First piece at every setup (E12)The FAI and Production Readiness Kit Handbook, chapter 11
  4. After approval: into steady productionThe FAI and Production Readiness Kit Handbook, chapter 14
  5. The weekly and monthly rhythmThe FAI and Production Readiness Kit Handbook, chapter 15
  6. Setting it up in thirty daysThe FAI and Production Readiness Kit Handbook, chapter 17

Related resources

  • Workbook

    Inspection Planning Worksheet

    Plan the inspection of every ballooned characteristic before the first part is made: where it is verified, by which method and gauge, how often, what gets recorded and what happens when it is out, with a check that every gauge can resolve its tolerance.

    Excel · PDFFree download
  • Checklist

    Production Traveler Review Checklist

    Two reviews of the document that carries a job through the shop: one before the traveler is released to the floor, so it says what the drawing and the order require, and one when the job is complete, so the record shows every operation done, every part accounted for and every exception authorized.

    Word · PDFFree download
  • Checklist

    First Article Inspection Planning Checklist

    Decide whether a job needs a first article and how much of one, then plan it before the part is made: requirements, the production process, the ballooned characteristics, gauges, materials, special processes, people and records, with a shop-wide log from trigger to customer approval.

    Excel · PDFFree download
  • Workbook

    Tooling and Equipment Maintenance Register

    Keep every machine, fixture, tool, customer-owned item and NC program that the product depends on validated, maintained and checked in storage, with a log that asks what a breakdown made while it was broken.

    Excel · PDFFree download
  • Workbook

    Calibration and Measurement Risk Register

    More than a calibration log: track every instrument's due date and status, what it measures and how far a failure would reach, and run an out-of-tolerance impact assessment the day a calibration fails.

    Excel · PDFFree by email
  • Workbook

    Key Characteristics Monitoring Register

    Every key characteristic with its limits, control method and reaction plan; every measured value; and capability worked out from the values, so you know which KCs are capable, which are not, and which have too little data to say.

    Excel · PDFFree download

Need more than one resource, or not sure where to start? Book a complimentary 30-minute Aegis Quality Guidance Call. We'll find the tools that fit your situation and a sensible place to start. No sales pressure, no obligation.

These tools help you run the work by hand. When you want the whole picture of your quality system from the records you already keep, that's what the AeroAssure Audit Defense Pack and the IA9100 Transition Gap Analysis do.