AQL TRAINING FOR FINISHED GOODS

AQL = Acceptable Quality Level

July 2007

What is the purpose of this presentation?

CQA cannot visit every manufacturing centre to help with
training of AQL auditors in the time allowed, so we have
put together this presentation to help with the training
locally
The following TI AQL audit procedure should always be
used unless a third party (non Triumph) customer, who may
have their own AQL audit procedures, require us to use
their own procedures
If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate
to contact Ms Wong or her staff in TIOL CQA Hong Kong

Contact:Ms Wong +852 2797 4094,

email [email protected]
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Some information about AQL audits in

finished goods

AQL means ACCEPTABLE QUALITY LEVEL

This means that we check that the goods inspected do not exceed
the minimum number of rejected garments in a shipment that is
allowed in the AQL rules

AQL audits only check a small number of garments in a large
shipment, to give an indication of the level of quality of the whole
shipment.

AQL audits on finished goods should be seen as the last safety
net check before shipment

The number of garments that we need to check are given in a
table of AQL rules called Double Sampling Plan For Normal
Inspection.

AQL finished goods audits should be conducted on totally finished
and packed goods which are ready for our customers to receive.
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Some information about AQL audits in finished

goods

AQL audits should be done as close to the manufacturing
as possible, and preferably not in a distant warehouse. It
may be necessary to return a failed shipment to
manufacturing for re-inspection

The purpose of these AQL audits is to have a final check
on the quality of the products, before they are shipped
so that when our customers receive our products, they
are happy with them and they are to the standard that
they expect.

AQL audits on finished goods, do not replace end control
or in-line inspections.

Proper and thorough inspections inline and at end control
MUST take place in addition to AQL audits at Finished
Goods
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What do we need for an AQL audit ?

Garments boxed and completed, that have passed the final factory
inspection (end control).
Order Check List (OC) or Product Order (PO) that shows the
quantity ordered by style, size colour and cup for each shipment.
Tape Measure
Calculator
Cotton gloves for handling sensitive fabrics
Eye Glass, magnifying stitch counter or Triumph Seam Ruler
Master Garment Sample or Factory Sample, which must be verified
as a proper standard that can be referred to by the AQL inspector

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What do we need for an AQL audit ?

AQL report form

AQL Double Sampling Plan to find out how many garments
to inspect and how many to measure
Garment Finished Measurement Chart (Size Chart) see
next slide for more details
Packaging Specification or Packing Instructions
Label/tag reference chart or label/tag check list, to
check garment labels, paper tags and box labels against
 Small round green sticker to place on the outside of the
box to denote the box has been AQL inspected

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(What do we need for an AQL audit ? continued)

Measurement Chart (Size Chart)
Some of our third party customers, like Marks and Spencer, will
have their own Measurement or Size Charts which TIOL produce and
M&S agree by sign off.
For Triumph styles, SAP will give us a similar chart, but until
Manufacturing Centres are running on SAP, we will have to create
our own.
To ensure that we use the correct information for finished
measurements, each Manufacturing Centre should locate the
finished measurements within the Article Description (AD).
The sections within the AD pages that contains the Finished
Measurements, should be Copied and Pasted onto a blank
document page to create your own Measurement (Size) Chart. An
example of this is attached.
This new Measurement (Size) Chart that you have created, should
be signed, dated and verified by the Quality Manager in the Centre,
as being completely accurate before use.
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(What do we need for an AQL audit ? continued)

Measurement Chart (Size Chart) - Example

MEASUREMENT SHEET
STYLE 40-805

DATE 17TH JULY 2007

Approved by ..
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When should we start the audit ?

Every shipment or production order should be audited.
The audit should be started when the whole shipment is boxed and
available, but it is acceptable to start the audit when no less than
80% of the total shipment is finally packed and boxes sealed.

Shipments or production orders should be audited at least one

complete day before they are planned to load onto the
transport.
Remember, it may be necessary to 100% re-inspect the shipment, if
the audit fails, and time should be allowed for that possibility.

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Procedure1
Confirm the shipment quantity from the Order Check List (OC) or
Product Order (PO)
Find out from the Double Sampling Plan, how many garments you
need to inspect out of the shipment and how many of each colour,
size and cup you need to inspect
Randomly select these quantities from the shipment, carefully
opening the boxes so that they can be used again
Check the outer boxes to make sure that the label details are
correct and compare to the shipment or order details
Check the way the garments are packed inside the outer box, to
make sure they are packed correctly according to the packaging
specification
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Procedure2
Select the required number of inner packs or boxes that the sample
plan determines you should inspect
Check the inner packs or boxes to ensure that the labelling and
packaging are correct when compared to the packaging specification
Open up the inner packs or boxes to commence examination of the
garments
Check the visual appearance of the garments inside and outside, does
it look creased or stained?
Check all labels and tags to ensure that they are correct
Are all seams correctly aligned?
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Procedure3
Do any parts of the garment look off shade when compared to the
rest of the garment and when compared to the standard?
Are the seams straight and correct, does the garment look balanced
and equal when comparing one side to the other etc.
Check the make up of the garment, are all the seams secure
Are all the attachments fitting correctly (hook and eyes, rings and
sliders etc)
Do any of the seams crack when reasonably stretched?
Check the wire play on bras to conform to the requirement (some
styles may not require any wire play)
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Procedure4
As soon as you find a fault, report it on the AQL report sheet
provided and move onto the next part of the garment for inspection
or the next garment to inspect.
All garments that you find a fault with, should have a fault sticker
placed on it and put to one side
In the case of a long thread end, you should continue to find the
possible cause of the thread end and if no subsequent fault is found,
record it as a minor fault
Fault classification (Critical, Major or Minor) is described in further
detail later
Measure the underband (underbust) of every garment checked and
compare to the measurement (size) chart
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Procedure5
Select the required number of garments to fully measure, according to
the table as given in the Double Sampling Plan For Normal Inspection
Measurement
Commence measuring these garments using the measurements as listed
on the Measurement (Size) Chart, and record on the Measurement
Sheet
Fault classification is based upon the severity of the fault and/or the
location of the fault
If a critical fault is found during the audit, the audit automatically fails
If 2 or more major faults are found, the audit automatically fails
If 6 or more minor faults are found, the audit automatically fails (so 3
minor faults counts as 1 major fault)
As soon as the rejection level is reached, there is still necessary to
continue the audit as you are already at the stage that the audit has
FAIL (revised 15 Dec 2011)
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17-11-12

Procedure6
Once you have found a rejectable fault within a garment,
there is no need to continue inspecting the garment, it is now
rejectable
If the audit fails, using the rules described previously, the
shipment MUST be stopped and 100% inspection of the
shipment takes place. Factory Management MUST be informed
of the failure
Once the failed shipment has finished 100% inspection and
Factory Management are confident that the problems have
been identified and resolved or removed from the shipment,
another AQL inspection should take place, exactly as
described previously
All boxes that have been AQL inspected, should be marked
with a small green round sticker, to denote the inspection
The shipment should only be released when a successful AQL
audit has been achieved
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Reporting
Each shipment or Production order should have a separate AQL
report completed
All AQL reports should be completed during the inspection not
after it
Each AQL report should be signed and dated by the AQL auditor,
additionally each failed report should also be signed by the
Quality Manager, the Shipping Manager and the Production
Manager to confirm their knowledge of the failure and the
appropriate actions that are required
Each AQL report should be accompanied by the respective
measurement sheet. All rejections for measurement will be
detailed on this sheet.
A summary of each weeks AQL passes and fails should be emailed
to Ms Wong at CQA TIOL Hong Kong

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Fault Classification
For Classification of faults found, into CRITICAL,
MAJOR or MINOR, please refer to the TI AQL Audit
Report Corsetry and Brief, or the TI Global Quality
Manual Product
For guidance, please see the definitions below:Critical would be a fault that would cause harm or injury
to the end consumer, or have an adverse effect on Product
Safety
Major would be a fault that would result in rejection
and return by the shop/store or end consumer
Minor would be a fault that is outside of the quality
standard requirements, but would not necessarily result in
rejection by the end consumer
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AQL report

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AQL Audit Report

(V1) 7 July 09

Double Sampling Plan For Normal Inspection

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AQL DOUBLE
SAMPLING PLAN

How to use the Double Sampling Plan - Volume

First inspection or
second inspection ?
Size of your order
or shipment

How many pieces you

should inspect from the
order or shipment

C = the maximum
number of rejected
pieces acceptable
Between C and D =
Start second inspection
D = the number of
rejected pieces

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Double Sampling Plan For Normal Inspection (Measurement)

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AQL DOUBLE
SAMPLING PLAN - MEASUREMENT

How to use the Double Sampling Plan - Measurement

Size of your order
or shipment

First inspection or
second inspection ?

How many pieces you should

measure from the order or shipment
C = the maximum
number of rejected
pieces acceptable
Between C and D =
Start second inspection
D = the number of
rejected pieces

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AQL Measurement Sheet

(for recording measurements)

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Weekly reporting of AQL inspections to CQA

Hong Kong

New AQL report

format with Example 7 Jul

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AQL TRAINING FOR FINISHED GOODS

TIOL CQA Hong Kong July 2007