Meridian Aerostructures machines aluminum housings and brackets on two shifts and inspects them in a small lab. Three instruments carry the story: the height gauge that failed, the bore gauge behind a customer escape, and a plug gauge that failed last month. Each step below is filled in on the tool named.
Meridian Aerostructures: HG-03, the height gauge that read high
Register (E01 ): HG-03, digital height gauge, inspection lab; used for bracket 7730-150 step heights at final inspection; measurement risk High; interval 12 months; last known good 2026-03-27.
Certificate (chapter 6 ): returned 2026-09-29 with an as-found error of +0.018 mm from 50 to 150 mm and +0.012 mm at the 25 mm point. The coordinator set Impact assessment to Open that afternoon.
Event record (E02 ): OOT-26-006, reads high, so the lower limit is at risk; window 186 days. The lab added an as-found point at 12.7 mm on request: +0.012 mm.
Trace (E02 ): 14 bracket lots in the window, 612 pieces, 9 lots shipped. Screen with 0.018 mm: four lots could hold a piece under the 12.650 limit of step A. Refined with 0.012 mm: one lot, L-2575, could hold three pieces up to 0.006 mm under. Step B cleared for all lots on one line.
Action (E02 ): the two in-stock lots re-measured on CMM-01, all conforming. Customer A told on 2026-10-02 about the two shipped lots with the data; it accepted the three worst-case pieces under deviation D-26-019 and the rest on the data. NCR-26-348 records it (D19 ).
Instrument and system (E01 , E02 ): HG-03 adjusted, interval cut to 6 months, daily gauge block check added; sister gauge HG-05 checked. Three second-shift records named no instrument: record IR-02 now has a required instrument ID field. Assessment closed 2026-10-21 by R. Chen, 22 days after the finding.
MSA plan (E03 ): line MS-02 added for a gauge study on HG-03 on the step heights, planned for 2026-11-20, with the study plan written on the Example study plan tab.
Meridian Aerostructures: BG-12, the bore gauge behind a customer escape
Escape (CAPA-26-031, B08 ): four housings 4471-200 with oversize bores found by the customer in June. The bore gauge BG-12 was not on the recall list and, when checked, read 0.006 mm low: oversize bores passed.
Assessment (E02 , OOT log): OOT-26-004. No last known good on record, so the window ran from the day the gauge entered service. Worked inside the corrective action; closed 2026-06-30.
Register (E01 ): BG-12 added to the recall on a 3-month interval, set on its ring master before each use.
Gauge study (E04 ): GRR-26-012 on 10 housings, 3 operators, 3 trials. %GRR 9.0% of the 0.021 mm tolerance, 13.7% of total variation, 10 distinct categories, no range above its limit: accepted for in-process control of the bore. Half the ranges were zero, so the decision records that the 0.001 mm dial is close to the gauge's repeatability and the next study uses a digital gauge.
MSA plan (E03 ): line MS-01, Done: Acceptable, re-study due 2027-07-14. The same gauge then carried the capability study CS-26-044 (E06 , Cpk 1.58) and the bore's control chart (E05 ).
Meridian Aerostructures: PG-31, an assessment still open
Register (E01 ): PG-31, go/no-go plug gauge for the bushing bore of housing 4471-210 at final inspection; found 2026-10-22 with the go member worn 0.004 mm undersize; status OOT: impact assessment open.
Assessment (E02 ): OOT-26-007. A small go member enters bores below the lower limit, so the lower limit is at risk. Pass or fail only: all 9 lots accepted in the window are in question, 2 of them shipped. Stock is being re-checked with a bore gauge; the customer has not yet been told, and the OOT log shows it in crimson.
MSA plan (E03 ): line MS-03, an attribute agreement study on the replacement gauge before release, with 30 parts including some near each limit.
What the weekly review decided: notify the customer this week with what is known, rather than waiting for the re-check of stock to finish.
What the three cases teach
HG-03 shows the method working: a failure found, traced, refined and closed in three weeks with the customer told early. BG-12 shows what happens without it: a gauge outside the system and an escape. PG-31 shows the hardest case, an attribute gauge with nothing to correct, and the decision a weekly review is for.
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