What is AQL and Why Does it Matter?

Managing quality can be one of the most challenging aspects of manufacturing a product
abroad. As an importer, you’re likely trying to maintain control over how the factory
manufactures your product while also asking your supplier to keep you informed about
what’s actually happening.

When you encounter problems, it can sometimes feel like you’re at the mercy of the
situation, especially when you’re watching it unfold from the other side of the world. As a
result, importers tend to approach quality improvement in two ways:

 By clarifying their expectations with the supplier to prevent unacceptable quality

defects and nonconformities, often by collaborating to develop a detailed QC
checklist, and
 By conducting product inspection of their order of goods at the factory to find any
problems and address them before shipping
AQL sampling makes stating requirements upfront and verifying them later with
inspection much easier for the majority of importers.

In the remainder of this eBook, we’ll explore how AQL benefits most importers, why QC
professionals rely on it for inspection, how to use AQL tables, what alternatives to the
common industry standard for AQL exist for importers and more.

Read along, email a PDF to yourself for later or click the links below to jump to the
section that interests you most:

 Chapter 1: Why QC Professionals Use AQL Sampling for Product Inspection

 Chapter 2: What Do the Parts of the ANSI ASQ Z1.4 AQL Table Mean?
 Chapter 3: How Importers Use the AQL Table for Product Inspection
 Chapter 4: How AQL Affects the Results of Product Inspection
 Chapter 5: Alternatives to ANSI ASQ Z1.4 for AQL Sampling During QC
Inspection
 More AQL resources

And check out our step by step video on how to use the AQL chart below!

Chapter 1: Why QC Professionals Use

AQL Sampling for Product Inspection
Professionals in the quality control field have been using AQL as the basis for
acceptance sampling for decades. Sometimes it’s desirable to inspect an entire order of
goods. But in most cases, you’ll benefit more by having inspection staff pull a random
sample of units from the total order to check using AQL. Let’s look at why professionals
typically use AQL sampling for product inspection.

Sampling reduces waste when inspection includes

destructive testing
Acceptance sampling with AQL has early origins. The practice was popularized by
Harold F. Dodge and Harry Remig foruse by the United States military during World War
II. The military faced a problem with the need to test bullets for quality and function. As
with many products today, testing bullets was destructive—the bullets themselves were
destroyed by the process. So the military had to devise a way to test enough bullets to
give them assurance about the quality of a lot without testing so many that none were left
to ship to the field. Sampling with AQL addressed these concerns.

By pulling a sample of bullets

at random from a lot, the military was able to test part of the lot and use those results to
estimate the quality of the total lot. This ensured that bullets weren’t needlessly
destroyed by excessive testing. And based on a history of product quality reported over
time, the military was able to further optimize the sample size tested. They could pull a
larger sample for testing when variance or other factors contributed to lower quality or
pull a smaller one when product quality was more consistent.

In the same way, if you’re manufacturing a product that requires destructive testing, such
as composition testing for fabric, using acceptance sampling with AQL can help you
manage quality while limiting waste.

Why not conduct quality control inspection on 100

percent of an order?
Many importers believe that the more units of their product they inspect, the more
confident they can be about the quality of an order. And they’re right. You’ll have a more
complete overview of quality by checking a greater number of units. And no sampling
plan offers you more transparency than a 100-percent inspection of your order.

But some importers fail to recognize two important considerations:

1. You can still get a reasonable idea of product quality by inspecting a much
smaller quantity than 100 percent, and
 2. Checking 100 percent of an order tends to be much more costly and time-
consuming than checking a smaller sample

Let’s say you’re importing 2,500 tablet PCs from a factory in Shenzhen, China. You
require QC staff to conduct a number of standardized on-site tests for your product.
Aside from basic function tests, such as checking power ON/OFF, touch screen, camera,
playback and Bluetooth connection, there’s also a barrage of nearly 15 other tests
required for your product. If an inspector needs 5 minutes to perform all of these tests, it
would take them more than 208 hours to inspect all 2,500 tablets.

Assuming 8 hours in a workday, you’d need one inspector working for 26 days to inspect
100 percent of your order in this example. For most importers, 26 days is way too much
time to spend checking an order before it ships, especially if you wait until the order is
packaged. And your supplier won’t likely be willing to wait 26 days before shipping to
allow for this inspection.

In contrast, if you chose to inspect using AQL sampling in this example, the highest
possible sample size for your lot of 2,500 tablets would be 200 units.

If all factors remain unchanged except the number of units checked, this inspection could
be completed by a single inspector in about 2 days using AQL sampling. And because
AQL relies on statistics, you’d still be able to make an informed decision regarding
whether or not to ship the order based on the results of this inspection.

We can see that inspecting a sample of goods using AQL typically requires less time
than inspecting 100 percent of an order. But what’s the difference in cost?
Some importers choose to rely on QC staff at the factory to ensure their product meets
their standards. But most tend to insist on outside inspection, often hiring professionals
based near their supplier’s factory to inspect on their behalf. When you’ve hired a
contractor or a third-party inspection company that’s billing you based on time—often
expressed in “man-days”—100 percent inspection can be expensive.

The 100-percent inspection of tablet PCs in the earlier example required 26 days to
complete. If a single inspector charges $250 per day, that’s a total of $6,500 billed for
inspecting just one order. Whereas, in the 2-day inspection checking a sample of 200
units, the same inspector would bill you only $500 for the service—that’s quite a

difference!

There are cases where you may benefit from 100-percent inspection over inspecting a
sample with AQL. For example, if your shipment is a relatively small quantity or a trial
order, the cost and time needed to inspect every unit may not be unreasonable. And a
higher retail price for certain products, like luxury bags, may justify 100-percent
inspection.

Why not just choose an arbitrary sample size to

inspect?
Importers sometimes suggest pulling a sample of 10, 15, 20 percent or some other
portion of a lot for inspection, rather than using AQL. But although you may think this is
the best approach, it’s actually less efficient to check an arbitrary percentage of units in
an order.
 As the statistics governing AQL sampling
will show, the greater your lot size the relatively fewer units you’ll need to check to get
the same confidence in the inspection result. At some point, inspecting a fixed
percentage means spending more time checking more units without offering greater
transparency. In these cases, AQL inspections yields equally-reliable results without the
need to check as many units.

A professional QC company can often recommend what they feel is an appropriate

inspection method. But ultimately the decision about how many units to check must be
made by you, the importer, based on your product, budget, appetite for risk and other
factors (related: When Should You Use AQL for Inspection?). Most importers of
consumer and industrial products will find that an inspection using AQL sampling is best
for them most of the time.

Chapter 2: What Do the Parts of the

ANSI ASQ Z1.4 AQL Table Mean?
Before delving into a step-by-step process for AQL sampling and interpreting the results
of inspections that use it, let’s first look at the different parts of a standard AQL chart and
what each represents.

The predominant AQL standard used by QC professionals in the product inspection field
is ANSI ASQ Z1.4. The standard was developed by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for Quality (ASQ), formerly called the
American Society for Quality Control (ASQC). This is the standard most commonly
applied today in attribute sampling for consumer and industrial products. We’ll look more
at the different types of sampling standards and how each is used in Chapter 5.

The ANSI ASQ Z1.4 standard AQL table includes eight parts, which we’ve highlighted in
orange in each diagram:
1. Lot sizes
Lot size is your order quantity—the total number of units in your shipment of goods.
Despite how many units you anticipate you’ll be checking during inspection, your total lot
size should be used as a starting point with the AQL chart. Lot sizes appear on the chart
as a range of quantities. If you have an order of goods with a total quantity of 315 units,
for example, you’d use the lot size range “281 to 500” in the AQL chart.

2. General inspection levels

Inspection levels are the main determinant of how many units you’ll pull for inspection, or
your sample size. General inspection levels are most commonly used for inspection
procedures that will be applied to your entire main sample size. You or your inspector
would perform visual inspection procedures, such as examining a piece of furniture for
any defects or nonconformities, on every unit in your sample.

General inspection levels are divided into three categories, ranging from the smallest
option (GI) to the largest (GIII) corresponding to your lot size. Typically, the larger your
sample size, the more costly and time-consuming your inspection will be. For this
reason, you can consider GI to be your “budget option”, offering a relatively narrow
inspection scope. GIII tends to be the most expensive option, but offers the widest scope
and greatest transparency of the inspection levels.

3. Special inspection levels

Like general inspection levels, special inspection levels help determine the sample size
that you’ll use for inspection. But special inspection levels are divided into four
categories, rather than three, ranging from S1 to S4. They tend to use sample sizes
much smaller than those for general inspection levels corresponding to your lot size.
Also, unlike general inspection levels, these are normally used for “special” tests or
inspection procedures.

It’s often unnecessary to conduct certain product tests and checks on every unit in the
main sample size. For example, measuring dimensions of many units isn’t necessary for
products like injection-molded components. Since the parts come from the same mold,
you can expect that their dimensions are consistent throughout mass production.

Similarly, you likely won’t want to bother conducting a test for fabric composition on every
piece in your main sample. Fabric composition testing often destroys the fabric by
burning, and material composition rarely varies significantly between sections or rolls of
fabric in a lot. Some tests also require special equipment and may take considerable
time to perform. So it’s often costly and inefficient to carry out these kinds of procedures
on more units than necessary.

Instead, you may feel that testing five pieces, three pieces or a single piece gives you the
assurance that you need. Special inspection levels help you determine the appropriate
sample size in these cases.

4. Sample size code letters

Sample size code letters represent the different sample sizes you might use for
inspection with AQL. These letters appear on both pages or sides of the ANSI ASQ Z1.4
standard AQL chart. The same sample size letters often appear in the rows of multiple lot
size ranges and in the columns of multiple general and special inspection levels. For
example, sample size letter “D” is an option for 11 different lot size ranges and all
inspection levels.

5. Sample sizes
You can find sample sizes on the second page or backside of the AQL chart. These are
the number of units that you’ll pull, usually at random, and test or check during
inspection. Sample sizes shown in the chart range from 2 units to 2,000 units.

6. Acceptance quality level

An acceptable quality level (AQL), recently renamed acceptable quality limit, represents
your tolerance for defects or nonconformities in an order. More specifically, AQL is the
worst level of quality that you’ll accept—the highest percentage of goods with a particular
type of defect or nonconformity that you’ll allow in the order. For example, you might
accept torn upholstery on only 1.5 percent of the chairs you’re manufacturing in China.
So you would choose an AQL of 1.5, which corresponds to this tolerance.

7. Acceptance points
Acceptance points, shortened to “Ac” on the AQL table, are the maximum number of
defects or nonconformities allowed in a given sample size for a given AQL. These are
directly proportional to AQLs, respective of sample size. That is, as your tolerance for
particular quality problems increases, so does the maximum number of defects allowed
in a sample, or your acceptance point.

8. Rejection points
Rejection points, shortened to “Re” on the AQL table, represent the threshold for
rejecting an order based on the number of defects or nonconformities in a sample at a
given AQL. The rejection point is always one unit greater than the corresponding
acceptance point. For example, if you’ve chosen an AQL of 1 percent and are inspecting
a sample of 80 units, you’d accept the order if inspection finds as many as 2 defects.
You’d reject the order if you find 3 or more defects.

What do the arrows mean?

You’ll notice that the AQL chart has arrows pointing to acceptance and rejection points at
certain sample sizes. These show that, although you may begin with a particular sample
size, according to your lot size and chosen inspection level, you may require a larger
sample size to give you confidence at some AQLs. For example, given the relatively
strict AQL of 0.065 percent, you’ll need to inspect a sample of at least 200 units to make
a reasonable conclusion about the quality of the lot. If you find that the area of the chart
containing your sample size at your chosen AQL points to a sample size larger than your
total order quantity, you would inspect 100 percent of the order.

Similarly, some of the larger sample sizes may be redundant at some higher AQLs. If
you’ve chosen a more lenient AQL of 15 percent, you need only inspect a sample size of
80 units at most, even if your lot size and inspection level call for a larger sample.
Inspecting more units will not give you greater confidence in the quality of your order
using AQL.

As we’ll see in Chapter 5, there are multiple AQL standards available for inspection. But
the basic layout and parts of the AQL chart vary only slightly between these standards.
And most of what you’ve learned about this chart will help you interpret and apply the
other standards.

Now that you have a basic understanding of all the parts of an ANSI ASQ Z1.4 standard
AQL chart, let’s connect the dots by seeing how each part comes together during the
sampling and inspection process.

Chapter 3: How Importers Use the AQL

Table for Product Inspection
Most importers can begin using the AQL chart as soon as they know their total order
quantity and have an idea of quality expectations and product requirements. In fact, it’s
best to determine how the AQL chart will be used for inspection before mass production
even begins. In this way, you can ensure that your supplier understands what minimum
quality standards you expect them to meet.

Let’s look specifically at what quality expectations you’ll need to set before using AQL.

How to classify defects for inspection purposes

Most importers have a different tolerance level for different kinds of defects. If you’re
manufacturing refrigerators, you’d probably consider a small scratch in the outside
coating to be less serious than you would a broken hinge on the door. For this reason,
most product inspectors will attempt to separate different defects into one of the following
three categories based on importance:

 Minor – defects that are unacceptable in high quantities but generally won’t result
in product returns
 Major – defects that would likely result in product returns but don’t pose a safety
risk to the user
 Critical – defects that violate regulations or pose a threat to user safety
By notifying your suppler of any known quality defects common to your product and
classifying them by severity, you hold them more accountable for these issues. Likewise,
you can be confident that inspection staff will verify your product using your standard if
you can inform them of how each known defect should be reported. One of the best
ways that experienced importers clarify defects, and other product expectations, is by
working together with their supplier and QC staff to develop a detailed QC checklist.

If you’re unsure of what known quality defects exist for your product or how to classify
them, a professional inspector with experience in your product type can often advise
(related: 3 Types of Quality Defects in Different Products).

Which AQL to assign to each defect category

Since AQL represents your relative tolerance for quality defects, and you have different
tolerances for different defects, you’ll typically assign a different corresponding AQL to
critical, major and minor defects. For example, when inspecting consumer goods, QC
professionals generally recommend AQLs of 0, 2.5 and 4 percent for critical, major and
minor defects, respectively. Note that for an AQL of 0 percent, the rejection point is 1
defect, regardless of sample size—any critical defects found within the sample will result
in rejecting the order.

If you’re unsure of which AQLs to apply to your product for each defect type, a QC
professional can usually make suggestions based on past experience. And like defect
categories, including your chosen AQLs in your QC checklist helps ensure your supplier
and inspection team are aware of your quality expectations.

Determining a sample size and acceptance/rejection

points with AQL
Once you have at least a rough idea of how potential defects for your product will be
classified and which AQL will be used for each defect class, you’re ready to use the AQL
chart to find your sample size.

Let’s say that you have an order of 300 electric blenders that you want to inspect before
shipping. By looking at the lot sizes shown in the AQL chart, you can see that your order
quantity falls within the “281 to 500” unit range. Let’s also say that, due to budgetary
constraints, you’ve chosen the lowest general inspection level for that lot size—GI. By
looking at where your inspection level meets your lot size, you find sample size code
letter “F”.

When you look to the second page or backside of the AQL chart, you’ll find that the
sample size code letter “F” corresponds to 20 units. Now let’s apply the same AQLs
typically used for consumer goods to your blenders. We’ll use 0 percent AQL for critical
defects, 1.5 percent for major defects and 4 percent for minor defects. For critical
defects, we already know that the rejection point is 1 defect. But when we look at the
chart for AQL 1.5, we find an arrow in the column where it meets sample size 20 units.

The arrow in the column for AQL 1.5 percent is pointing down to the row below it with a
sample size of 32 units. In this case, 32 units is the minimum sample size required to
inspect at this AQL. So you must use a sample size of 32 units, instead of 20 units, and
use the acceptance point of 1 defect and rejection point of 2 defects.

The column for 4 percent AQL meets the row for your original sample size, 20 units, at
the acceptance and rejections points of 2 defects and 3 defects, respectively. But
common AQL standards permit you to use the largest sample sizefor all AQLs when
using different classes of defects or nonconformities—a typical practice among QC
professionals. And since you’re using a different AQL for minor, major and critical
defects, you can use the largest sample size, 32 units, for all three defect classes, rather
than using a smaller sample size for minor defects. And with the larger sample size of 32
units, you’ll use the corresponding acceptance point of 3 defects and rejection point of 4
defects for 4 percent AQL.

The practical outcome of this is that you’ll be pulling a single random sample of 32 units
from mass production and rejecting the order if you find:

 1 or more critical defects

 2 or more major defects, or
 4 or more minor defects

If the number of defects you find exceeds any of these three limits, you should reject the
order, according to AQL. But as we’ll see in the next chapter, the AQL result is not the
only determinant of a pass or fail result for an inspection.

Chapter 4: How AQL Affects the

Results of Product Inspection
AQL result vs. general result
The AQL result is a vital part of inspections that use AQL. But it’s not the only factor in
determining if the inspection result is “pass” or “fail”, nor does the inspection result
dictate to the importer that they must hold or ship an order (related: What QC Inspection
Results Do and Don't Mean for Your Shipment).
Most product inspection reports have an AQL result and an overall result, sometimes
called a “general” result. The general result is normally shown at the top of the report and
takes into account the AQL result, as well as other factors. A passing AQL result is a
necessary condition for a passing general result, though not a sufficient one—an order
can fail inspection for reasons other than AQL. Let’s look at these other factors that
commonly affect the general result.

Customer expectations
The decision to separate different defects into different classes and assign a certain AQL
to each class falls on you, as the importer. Likewise, your customers’ expectations
should govern the way you treat and report defects. But importers often adjust AQLs and
the ways they classify different defects as they continue manufacturing and inspecting
their product.

For example, you might

initially classify untrimmed threads as a minor defect for a garment. But if you see an
unexpectedly high number of customer returns due to untrimmed threads, you may want
to consider these major defects, effectively lowering your tolerance for this defect in your
goods. This may be a decision you make after seeing the result of inspection, asking the
supplier to hold an order and address units with untrimmed threads before shipping. So
even though you might have received a passing result, you’ll still want to consider any
customer expectations that might alter your decision to ship the order.

Another part of customer expectations that can affect your decision to accept or reject an
order is urgency. Your supplier might have fallen behind the production deadline such
that you’re willing to accept an AQL result of fail because you urgently need to ship the
order. Although a fairly common problem, you can prevent production delays through
proper planning and by conducting inspection well in advance of your planned shipping
date.

On-site test results

Aside from meeting AQL and customer expectations, most products must pass any on-
site tests performed during inspection. These typically include tests for functionality,
safety and performance. Although a product may have a passing AQL result, it often fails
inspection if it does not pass certain tests.

When inspecting an item of furniture, for

example, you might subject it to a number of load-bearing tests to ensure it meets a
certain standard. Chairs, in particular, often need to be tested to verify they can
withstand a reasonable weight load without breaking or deforming. If a chair fails this
kind of testing for functionality and safety, you’d probably want to reject the order,
regardless of AQL results. Product safety issues can be very dangerous for consumers,
as well as potentially resulting in a damaging product recall, as we saw with IKEA’s
recent recall of many of the company’s chests and dressers.

Some importers will insist on testing their product to verify a particular performance
claim. Wristwatch and other timepiece manufacturers, for example, often make claims of
their products’ durability and performance, such as water resistance to a certain depth.
Importers often require on-site testing during inspection to verify these. When testing
finds that your product fails to live up to its claim, you might want to reject the order, or
else risk dissatisfied customers and product returns.

Regulations and distributor requirements

Products sometimes pass all on-site tests and have a passing AQL result, but still have a
general result of fail because they don’t meet one or more regulations or distributor
requirements. Regulations affect a wide range of products, from garments with
requirements for labeling, to FDA regulations surrounding cosmetics. Failure to meet
regulations of a particular market can result in your inability to distribute within it.

Aside from legal requirements, many distributors and retailers often impose their own set
of requirements on their suppliers’ products. For example, Amazon.com requires that any
poly bags for a product have a 5-inch opening or larger, in addition to many other
packaging requirements. Just as failure to meet local regulations can shut you out of a
market of sale, not adhering to distributors’ standards can limit your distribution channels.

If there are any on-site tests, regulations or distributor requirements that you need to
verify in your product, be sure to include these in your QC checklist and share them with
your supplier and your inspection team. Otherwise, a passing inspection result that
doesn’t include these factors may mislead you into accepting an order you should
actually be rejecting.

Remember that your inspector’s main role is to visit the factory, check your product using
your standards and report on what they find. They typically cannot tell the factory
manager whether to ship the goods. Only you can make that decision. That’s why it’s
vital that inspection includes all of your product criteria and addresses all of your
concerns. This makes it much easier for you to interpret inspection results and make an
informed decision about accepting or rejecting an order.

Chapter 5: Alternatives to ANSI ASQ

Z1.4 for AQL Sampling During QC
Inspection
Attribute sampling using the ANSI ASQ Z1.4 standard for AQL has been the focus of the
preceding chapters and is the most commonly used sampling method for inspection by
most importers today. But this isn’t the only standard or sampling plan available
(related: Alternatives to ANSI ASQ Z1.4 for AQL Sampling During QC Inspection). Let’s
briefly explore the other sampling methods and standards manufacturers have used at
various times and for various applications.

Attribute vs. variable sampling plans

Attribute sampling is relatively simple because it’s enumerative—it seeks to find the
number of units in a sample that meet certain qualitative criteria. Units inspected are
simply “defective” or “not defective”, based on the criteria set. As an importer simply
trying to find out the number of defects or nonconformities in your total order quantity,
attribute sampling is what you want. The main disadvantage to attribute sampling is that
you’ll generally need to inspect a relatively large sample size in order to make
reasonable conclusions about the quality of the entire order.

Variable sampling is more analytical and complex than attribute sampling because rather
than simply reporting whether or not a product meets certain qualitative criteria, you’re
reporting the quantitative data. You’re measuring quality characteristics on a continuous

scale with variable sampling.

Variable sampling is more commonly used for process control and to make predictions.

For example, if you’re inspecting an industrial valve, you can report nonconformities and
defects together using the same attribute sampling plan. But with variable sampling,
you’re measuring one particular issue or nonconformity wherever it occurs in your
sample. Variable sampling only allows you to check one characteristic per sampling plan.
You’d need one sampling plan to measure a particular dimension for the valves and
another sampling plan to measure valve pressure. So although variable sampling
requires a smaller sample size than attribute sampling plans, you’ll often need to inspect
multiple samples.
Other types of sampling plans
Aside from attribute or variable varieties, sampling plans are also categorized by the
number of samples required. The following are among the more commonly
used sampling plans in manufacturing:

 Single sampling – this is the preferred sampling plan for most importers. You
accept or reject a lot based on the results of inspecting only one sample. If the
number of defects or nonconformities found is within the chosen AQL, the AQL
result passes.
 Double sampling – this sampling plan combines two single sample plans,
conducted separately one after another. The main advantage to double
sampling is that if the number of defects or nonconformities found in the first
sample isn’t well within the acceptance point or well in excess of the rejection
point, then inspecting a second sample helps provide a clearer result.

 Continuous
sampling – with continuous sampling, you typically begin by inspecting 100
percent of the units consecutively produced as they come off the production line.
Once you’ve found a certain number of consecutive units to be free of defects and
nonconformities, you’d begin checking a random sample. If a single unit in the
sample is found to be defective, you’d repeat the process from the beginning,
inspecting 100 percent. Continuous sampling is most often used with conveyer
line production, or when lot-by-lot inspection isn’t practical.
 Zero acceptance sampling (c=0) – with “c” being the number defects
allowed, zero acceptance sampling involves rejecting an order if a single defect or
nonconformity is found in the inspected sample. This sampling plan is rarely used
by importers and requires smaller sample sizes, but presents greater producer
risk.
Popular attribute sampling standards
In addition to sampling plans, there are a number of sampling standards or schemes that
have been used for AQL at various times, each developed by a different organization:

 Military standard 105 (MIL-STD-105) – this is the original standard developed for
use by the U.S. Army, largely drawing from the work of Harold F. Dodge and
others in the 1930s. Most common civilian standards used today are derived from
MIL-STD-105. The standard went through several revisions since its first
inspection tables were designed in 1942 and 1943. The latest version, MIL-STD-
105E was created in 1989. In February 1995, the Army abandoned military
statistical standards and recommended using civilian standards instead.
 ASTM E2234-09 – this standard was developed by a committee of the American
Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) in 2005. It adheres closely
to MIL-STD-105E and is best applied in a testing and laboratory setting.
 ANSI ASQ Z1.4 – this is among the most common sampling standards importers
use for product inspection today, as we’ve outlined in this eBook. The U.S.
Department of Defense recommends using this standard in place of MIL-STD-
105E. It’s main distinction from MIL-STD-105E and E2234-09 is how it defines a
unit that should be rejected, using terminology from ANSI ASQ A3534-2:2006.
 ISO 2859-1 – this standard was created by the International Organization for
Standardization in 1974 and is best applied in international trade. Although also
deriving from MIL-STD-105E, ISO 2859-1 underwent more major changes than
ASTM E2234-09 or ANSI ASQ Z1.4.

These are just a few of the common commercial sampling standards available to you for
inspection. Some standards may be ideal for certain situations. If you’re unsure which
standard to apply for inspecting your product, consult a QC professional that’s
experienced with your product type.

Conclusion
Now you’ve seen why AQL sampling is a key process of most product inspections
conducted by QC professionals. You’re familiar with the various parts of most AQL tables
used for sampling. And you’re ready to choose a sampling method and standard that’s
best for you and your product.

Perhaps most of all, you’ll now benefit from a better understanding of how to interpret
most product inspection reports. You’re familiar with the common factors that lead to a
product passing or failing inspection. Equipped with this knowledge, you’re able to make
the important decision about whether to accept or reject an order of goods. And
remember, that’s a decision which only you can make.

More AQL resources

 Online AQL calculator
 AQL chart (PDF)
 Why QC Professionals Use AQL Sampling for Product Inspection
 10 AQL Terms Importers Should Know to Succeed with AQL for Inspection
 How Importers Use the AQL Table for Product Inspection
 Anatomy of the ANSI ASQ Z1.4 Industry-Standard AQL Table
 How AQL Sampling Affects Your Product Inspection Results
 Alternatives to ANSI ASQ Z1.4 for AQL Sampling During QC Inspection

There are five main parts of the single-sampling AQL table: lot sizes, inspection levels,
sample size code letters and acceptable quality levels. Let’s explore these and see how
they interact with one another.

1. Lot size
On the far left of the first side of the chart you’ll see a section for “lot size”, referring to
your total order quantity. Lot size is your starting point for using the table, represented by
a series of ranges of order quantities expressed in units. You’ll choose the lot size range
containing your total order quantity. For instance, let’s say you have an order quantity of
300 tablet PCs. You’d use the lot size range of 280 – 500 units.
2. Inspection level
The first part of the table is further divided into columns between two categories, “general
inspection levels” and “special inspection levels”, each class with a different
application. The inspection level you choose is a critical determinant of the scope
of your product inspection. So it’s important you consider your product quality
standards, customer expectations and time and budget constraints when choosing.

General inspection levels

Inspectors use general inspection levels for procedures that are intended to be
performed on their main sample size which includes all SKUs in the order. This typically
means a visual inspection of the product to look for quality defects and
nonconformances, as well as conducting any on-site tests and checks that cover your
main sample. Some examples related to tablet PCs are checking assembly, retail
packaging contents and packing assortment. Since these checks can be done relatively
quickly, it makes sense to include them in “general” inspection.

General inspection levels are divided in three smaller columns—“GI”, “GII” and “GIII”—
each with its own set of sample size code letters corresponding to specific lot size
ranges. Among these three levels, GI is associated with the smallest sample size.
Considered the “budget option, GI may be best if you’re pressed for time or money and
don’t require a particularly thorough inspection of an order.

GIII is the tightest standard and requires the inspection of a larger sample size, providing
a more comprehensive assessment of an order’s overall quality. The disadvantage of
GIII is that the larger sample size tends to require more time to inspect, which makes it
the most expensive option. GII is the moderate option and is the most common
inspection level for inspecting consumer goods.

Special inspection levels

You’ll typically use special inspection levels for special product tests that should only be
conducted on a relatively small sample of units. Smaller sample sizes are usually needed
because such tests either:

 Are destructive to the product

 Are expensive or tedious to perform, or
 Tend to yield similar results across all units in the order

An example of a product test that can be destructive and applies to most products,
including tablet PCs, is the carton drop test. Other tests, like the battery recharging test
and port function & insertion/removal test, are time consuming. And it’s not necessary to
check printing adhesion on a large number of tablets, since the process for applying the
print almost never varies between units of the same SKU.

Special inspection levels are divided in four: “S1”, “S2”, “S3” and “S4”. As with general
inspection levels, S1 offers the smallest sample size and S4 offers the largest. Your
decision to use special inspection levels will likely depend on what is applicable to your
product type. Just be sure to include your requirement in a detailed QC checklist for your
supplier and inspection team.

3. Sample size and code letters

After determining your lot size and inspection level, you’re ready to determine your
sample size. Sample sizes are represented by code letters on the first part of the table.
By following the row of your lot size to your chosen inspection level, you’ll see a
corresponding code letter listed. The second part of the AQL chart lists the sample size,
or the number of units to pull for inspection, next to the corresponding code letter.

Contrary to popular belief, lot size actually has little influence on the chosen sample size.
That’s because, if you choose a relatively low tolerance for defects (AQL), you can have
a small lot size but still require a larger sample size than that lot size dictates. The lower
your tolerance for defects, the more units you’ll need to inspect to reasonably
predict the average quality of the total order. If the appropriate sample size equals or
exceeds your lot size, you’ll inspect 100 percent of the order.

Whereas for large lot sizes with higher AQLs, a larger sample size is often redundant.
That is, you can get the same confidence in results from inspecting a smaller sample
size, which will be less time consuming and less expensive.

On the second part of the AQL chart, under each of the acceptable quality levels, there
are arrows pointing up or down for certain sample sizes. These arrows indicate where
the selected sample size is inadequate or redundant, as explained above. In these
cases, follow the arrows to the appropriate sample size and use this sample size for your
inspection.

Let’s say your chosen inspection level for your order of 300 tablet PCs is GII. From the
first part of the AQL chart, we can see the corresponding sample size code letter is “H”.
But if you’re using an AQL of 0.65, you’ll need to use a sample size of 80 units, instead
of the 50 unit sample size corresponding to H, as shown by the downward arrow.

4. Acceptable quality levels (AQL)

Sometimes called “acceptable quality limits”, AQLs range from 0 to 15 percent or more,
with 0 representing the lowest tolerance for defects. Importers’ tolerance for “minor”
defects tends to be higher than that for “major” and “critical” defects. So they usually
choose a different AQL for each of these classes of product defects. For consumer
goods, QC professionals typically recommend AQLs of 0, 2.5 and 4 percent for critical,
major and minor defects, respectively (related: 3 Types of Quality Defects in Different
Products).

Choosing an AQL isn’t always as simple as adopting the one that similar importers are
using. What works for one importer might not work for another to verify that orders
are meeting customer expectations. To ensure you can choose the best AQL for your
circumstances, there are a number of factors to consider, including:

 What quality level your supplier considers reasonable and has agreed to meet
 Your inspection budget (lower AQLs typically require larger sample sizes and
more time)
 Your exit-factory date
 The value of the goods in question (more expensive products tend to warrant
lower AQLs)

Although you might select what you perceive as a reasonable AQL to apply, that doesn’t
mean a factory will feel the same way. Agreeing upon standards early is crucial when it
comes to QC inspection. The factory may try to dispute the results of an inspection if
there’s no prior agreement on an appropriate AQL (related: How AQL Sampling Affects
Your Product Inspection Results).

5. Acceptance points and rejection

points
Your chosen AQL for each type of defect will determine a corresponding acceptance
point and rejection point. Theacceptance point indicates the maximum number of
defects you’ll accept in the order, while the rejection point indicates the minimum
number of defects needed to reject the order. For example, an AQL of 0 for critical
defects has a rejection point of 1 defect. This means that if inspectors find even one
critical defect, the inspection result will be “fail”.

Acceptance and rejection points increase as your tolerance for a defect increases,
respective to sample size. If you choose an AQL of 1 with a sample size of 125 units
(denoted by the code letter “K” on the AQL chart), your acceptance point is 3 defects and
your rejection point is 4 defects. But, perhaps you decide your tolerance for this defect is
actually much higher and an AQL of 4 is more appropriate. The corresponding
acceptance and rejection points will be much higher as well, at 10 and 11 defects,
respectively.
Conclusion
Behind all of the numbers and letters on the AQL chart is statistical reasoning that
ensures the sample size you inspect provides a reasonable representation of your
order’s overall quality. And one positive aspect of AQL is that you don’t have to
understand technical details and complex formulas to be able to use it for sampling and
inspection.

But completely understanding the anatomy of the table will help you prevent mistakes
when using AQL for inspection. Using AQL properly also helps reduce your chances of
unwittingly shipping goods that don’t meet your quality standards (related: How
Importers use the AQL Table for Product Inspection). And if you want to find out your
required sample size and acceptance and rejection point quickly, you can always use
our AQL calculator.

s ANSI ASQ Z1.4 the best AQL standard for most importers? Have you considered what
other standards are available for inspecting your products with AQL sampling?

Acceptable quality level (AQL) sampling is one of the most effective and mainstream
systems importers use for QC inspection of their products (related: The Importer’s Guide
to Managing Product Quality with AQL [eBook]). Unlike 100-percent inspection, AQL
sampling allows importers to get a sense of the average quality of an entire
shipment of goods by inspecting a smaller, random portion of the lot.

And rather than inspecting an arbitrary sample of a lot, such as 10 or 20 percent,

sampling with AQL yields results based on statistics, from which importers can make
more informed decisions about accepting or rejecting the goods. While certain situations
call for inspecting every unit due to the high value of the goods or safety risks presented
by defects, it’s usually excessive. Inspection of a sample based on AQL standards is
more efficient, while still yielding reliable results at a lower cost (related: Why QC
Professionals Use AQL Sampling for Product Inspection).

Among the most popular AQL standards and that which more importers are likely to be
familiar with is ANSI ASQ Z1.4. But this standard isn’t the only one of its kind that QC
professionals have used throughout the years. There are other standards
and acceptance sampling plans that favor certain types of products and situations. Let’s
explore these and discover why you may want to use one over the other for your product
inspections.
Common acceptance sampling plans
When discussing AQLs, we’re referring to the customer or importer’s tolerance for quality
defects. Other QC professionals may use another term to indicate quality level—lot
tolerance proportion defective (LTPD), or the worst level of quality the customer will
tolerate. LTPD sampling plans are separate from AQL and incompatible with AQL
sampling plans.

Sampling plans vary by the method and number of samples drawn, allowing importers to
choose a plan that fits their quality tolerance and required level of assurance. Let’s
compare the common sampling plans available to you. When choosing a sampling plan,
importers should balance their customers’ expectations with internal budget and time
constraints.

Single-sampling plans
Single-sampling plans are based on the results of one random sample. The sample size
is fixed and determined by a combination of the chosen AQL, desired inspection level
and the total order quantity. You decide to accept or reject an order based on how many
defects you find when inspecting this one fixed

sample. You accept the order

if the number of defects found is less than or equal to the accept point for a chosen AQL
and sample size. And you reject the order if the number of defects found is greater than
or equal to the reject point (related: How AQL Sampling Affects Your Product Inspection
Results).

Single-sampling plans are most commonly used in the QC inspection industry because
it’s simpler and often more efficient than other sampling plans. But checking a single
sample also means you’re potentially checking more units than necessary to understand
the quality of the order. So in some cases, single-sampling plans can actually be less
efficient than alternative plans.

Double and multiple-sampling plans

In double-sampling plans, the inspector begins with two sample sizes, each with a
unique accept and reject point for the order. The difference between the accept point and
reject point is greater than 1 defect, allowing for a range of quantities of defects in
between. And unlike single sampling, wherein the result of inspecting one sample
immediately reveals an AQL result of “pass” or “fail”, one of three possible outcomes can
occur when using doubling sampling:

1. If inspection of the first sample finds the number of defects is less than or equal to
the first accept point, you’d accept the order, and you don’t need to pull the
second sample.
2. If inspection of the first sample finds the number of defects is greater than or
equal to the reject point, you’d reject the order, and you don’t need to pull the
second sample.
3. If inspection of the first sample finds the number of defects falls in between the
accept point and reject point for that sample size, you inspect the second sample.

After inspecting the second sample, you’d accept the order if the cumulative number of
defects found, from inspecting both the first and second samples, remains less than or
equal to the second accept point. You’d reject the order if the cumulative number of
defects is greater than or equal to the second reject point (related: AQL table for double
sampling).

Double-sampling plans allow you to re-inspect when the results of checking the
first sample are questionable. If you’re able to come to a conclusive result using the
first sample size, then double-sampling can reduce your QC inspection costs, since
you’re inspecting a smaller overall sample size.
 But if you require a second
sample size to make a decision, then double-sampling can end up costing you more than
single-sampling.

Multiple-sampling plans use the same process as double-sampling plans, but use up to 7
samples to reach a conclusion. The main advantage of this plan is that the sample sizes
for the early rounds of inspection are relatively small. But if the inspection requires
several rounds, multiple sampling can become a complicated and more costly option
than single or double sampling.

Sequential-sampling plans
Unlike single, double and multiple-sampling plans, the sample size for sequential-
sampling plans isn’t fixed. Rather, you’d typically inspect a sample of 1 unit at a time,
sometimes called item-by-item sequential sampling, with no set number of items to
check. For each item checked, you continue inspecting samples until you’re confident in
your conclusion to accept or reject the order, based on the cumulative results. Inspectors
continue sampling until they reach a confident result.

The advantage of this sampling plan is that if there is one defect over a large portion of
an order, inspectors might find it very quickly, reducing the sample size needed and often
saving the importer money. But sequential sampling is non-probabilistic, meaning that
conclusions aren’t based on statistics and can be less reliable than other sampling plans.

Common attribute sampling standards

for QC inspection
In attribute sampling, attributes are defined as a characteristic of an item. For instance,
the color, the height and width of an item are all attributes of that

item. Attribute
samplingclassifies items as defective or non-defective using multiple defects within the
same plan and no matter what the attribute is. This allows you to easily separate units
with defects from those without.

Variable sampling is more complex and only examines one attribute at a time. If you
wanted to measure three different variables in terms of their nonconformance, you’d
need three to inspect three different samples. Variable samplingmeasures the degree of
conformity, or how defective the item is based on a continuous scale.

The benefit of variable sampling is that it requires a smaller sample size than attribute
sampling. But QC professionals commonly favor attribute sampling for product
inspections because results are easier to interpret and can be obtained from just
one sample. Professionals have used a number of attribute sampling standards for AQL
over time since acceptance sampling was first developed.

Military Standard 105 (MIL-STD-105)

One the first known sampling standards using AQL is MIL-STD-105, developed by the
U.S. military during World War II. The army needed a reliable method for testing bullets
without testing 100-percent. The problem was that testing was destructive—it included
firing the bullets. If they
tested too many units, they wouldn’t have enough remaining to ship to the warfront.
Acceptance sampling using the MIL-STD-105 standard allowed the military to reliably
understand the quality level of a shipment of bullets by testing a sample of the total
quantity.

The standard’s terminology differs from ANSI ASQ Z.14 as it expresses findings as
defectives (expressed in percentage defective) and defects (expressed in defects per
100 units).

MIL-STD-105 has been revised several times with the last revision, MIL-STD-105E,
being released in 1989. The military stopped supporting the standard in 1995 and
proposed using civilian standards instead.

ANSI ASQ Z1.4 standard

ANSI ASQ Z1.4, formerly ANSI ASQC Z1.4, was developed by the American National
Standards Institute and American Society for Quality. It is the most widely used standard
for AQL sampling. The U.S. FDA recognizes this standard as applicable for single,
double and multiple sampling plans, since it specifies a fixed sample size based on the
lot size.

When using ANSI ASQ Z1.4 for AQL sampling, you can alter your sample sizes for
product inspection by choosing among the three general inspection levels (GI, GII, GIII)
and four special inspection levels (S1, S2, S3 and S4). Like other sampling plans that
use AQL, you choose between relatively strict levels (e.g. AQL 0.1) and more lenient
levels (e.g. AQL 6.5), depending on your product type and your tolerance for defects
(related: Anatomy of the ANSI ASQ Z1.4 Industry-Standard AQL Table).
This standard relies on terminology from ANSI ASQ A3534-2:2006 in its definitions of
defects and nonconformances:

 Defects refer to a characteristic of the product that results in the product being
unable to meet normal or foreseeable usage requirements due to a departure
from the acceptable quality level
 Nonconformances refer to a characteristic of the product not meeting the
specification requirements of the buyer

In 1995, the U.S. Department of Defense recommended ANSI ASQ Z1.4 as the
replacement to the military’s earlier standard, MIL-STD-105E, on which ANSI ASQ Z1.4
is based.

Other attribute sampling standards

Besides the two more popular attribute sampling standards, there are a couple used to a
lesser extent in the QC industry, such as ASTM E2234-09. It was created in 2005 and is
best used in a testing or controlled laboratory setting.

Another standard is ISO 2859-1, which the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) created in 1974. Like ASTM E2234-09 and ANSI ASQ Z1.4, this standard was
adopted from MIL-STD-105 but has since undergone more significant changes. This
sampling standard is suitable for, but not limited to, inspections of finished products,
components and raw materials, materials in process and supplies in storage.

While ISO 2859-1 is also an attribute sampling plan with an acceptance sampling system
based on acceptable quality levels, its sampling plans are meant to be used for a
continuing series of lots. The standard uses “switching rules” to alter the severity of
sampling plans according to whether a deterioration or improvement in quality is found.
These rules are meant to protect the customer and incentivize the producer to maintain
high levels of quality.

Conclusion
With the exception of sequential-sampling plans, all of the above acceptance sampling
plans and standards are equally grounded in statistical logic. But their unique procedures
might pose advantages and disadvantages for your intended product inspection. It’s
ultimately up to you, as the importer, to consider factors such as your budget, product
type, lead time and customer expectations in deciding which plan you’d like to apply in
your QC inspection.

Although third-party product inspection companies tend to rely on ANSI ASQ Z1.4, the
best QC providers will be flexible to your preferred standards, so long as they’re
reasonable. Establishing your preferences with your QC team will ensure you receive the
clearest inspection report. And despite there being several ways importers conduct
product inspection, one focus should be consistent across inspection type and method:
your and your customers’ satisfaction.

Should you accept or reject this order for shipment? Does it meet your quality standards?

If you’re like most importers, you’ve probably grappled with answering these questions
about your product at one time or another. And you likely need a reliable way to assess
your product quality, without personally visiting your supplier’s factory and inspecting the
product yourself. This is especially true when your order can number in the hundreds and
thousands of units. That’s where acceptable quality levels (AQL) can be useful for
inspection.

Using AQL, you can check whether an order meets your quality requirements without
having to inspect every unit of the entire shipment, saving you time and money on
inspection. But one look at the AQL table could leave you feeling lost among the mass of
numbers, letters, labels and even colors. Is this a quality control tool or a brain teaser?!

Many explanations of AQL use advanced math models and equations to show how to
choose a statistically significant sample for inspection. And these explanations can be
hard to follow and overly complex if you’re just looking for a practical introduction on how
to use AQL.

But fret not. By the end of this article, you’ll be equipped with all the information you need
to get started with using AQL for inspection. And if you’re looking for a more
comprehensive look at how AQL affects your inspection results, check out our
eBook, The Importer’s Guide to Managing Product Quality with AQL.

1. Acceptance sampling
Acceptance sampling is a way to pull and check a random sample of goods or material
and accept or reject the total lot based on a statistical

result. This lets you apply the

results of inspecting this representative sample to making a decision about whether to
allow your supplier to ship an order. AQL sampling is one type of acceptance sampling
widely used in product inspection (related: Why QC Professionals Use AQL Sampling for
Product Inspection).

For example, rather than inspecting 100 percent of an order of 1,200 pairs of jeans to
decide if the order meets your quality expectations, you could make a similar decision by
randomly checking only 80 pairs using acceptance sampling.

Why use acceptance sampling instead of inspecting

100 percent or a fixed percentage?
While 100-percent inspection might sound appealing because it provides the largest
scope of oversight, it’s often better to use acceptance sampling when:

 Product testing is destructive – it’s better to test a sample of the total lot when
testing destroys the product. In fact, acceptance sampling first emerged as a
popular QC method when the U.S. military needed a reliable way to test samples
of bullets during World War II.
  100 percent inspection is costly or tedious – especially when hiring an
independent inspector, more time spent checking your products often raises your
costs.

Acceptance sampling requires certain sample sizes and standards. And if you instead
inspect a fixed percentage of your order, say 10 or 20 percent, you might check more
units than needed to get the same results. Due to the statisticsbehind acceptance
sampling, you can actually check relatively fewer units as your lot size grows and still
have similar confidence in the results.

2. Acceptable quality level (AQL)

Acceptable quality level (AQL), also referred to as acceptable quality limit, is
the minimum quality level a shipment is required to meet for an importer to accept it.
It’s one of the most commonly used tools among quality control inspectors to measure an
order’s conformance to your requirements. Acceptable quality levels typically range from
0 to 15, though AQLs higher than 6.5 are rarely used in the field. The higher your
acceptable quality level, the higher your tolerance for quality defects in your order.

Quality control professionals and importers commonly use the AQL table to calculate
important factors for inspection. This table tells you the appropriate number of units to
pull for inspection, or your sample size, and the number of defects that would be
acceptable in that sample. You can also use an online AQL calculator to find these
based on your own order quantity and quality expectations.

You’ll almost always find some defects in your sample when inspecting consumer
products—few, if any, factories have perfect and consistent production processes. But
because not all quality issues are equally serious, you’ll probably assign different AQLs
to different types of quality defects (see critical, major and minor defects below).

What if your product quality doesn’t meet your AQL?

If the product quality of your order is found to be worse than your chosen AQL, resulting
in a failed inspection, you might ask the supplier to hold the

shipment. Here importers will typically

address quality issues in one of several ways, such as:

 Asking their supplier to rework or repair the affected units to meet their AQL, if
such rework is practical and unlikely to lead to further defects,
 Asking their supplier to replace the affected units,
 Charging back their supplier for unsellable goods, or
 Destroying any unsellable units to prevent their supplier from selling them on the
black market or to their competitors

The way you choose to address a failed inspection will largely depend on the strength of
your relationship with your supplier, the severity of defects found, the value of your order
and the urgency to ship.

3. ANSI-ASQ Z1.4
ANSI ASQ Z1.4 was developed by the American National Standards Institute and
American Society for Quality, and it’s the most widely used standard for AQL sampling
(related: Alternatives to ANSI ASQ Z1.4 for AQL Sampling During QC Inspection). The
U.S. FDA recognizes this standard as applicable for single, double and multiple sampling
plans. But most importers use it for single sampling plans. This means inspectors only
pull one sample at random and issue a result based on the quality of this sample.

ANSI ASQ Z1.4 is based on inspection by attributes. This means inspected units are
evaluated under two categories, either “conforming” or “nonconforming” to your
requirements. Variable sampling instead measures the degree of nonconformance,
based on sample standard deviation or sample range measurements. ANSI ASQ Z1.9 is
the most commonly used standard for inspection by variables.

4. General inspection level

Now let’s dive into the process of how to use the AQL table for inspection. Inspection
levels determine the sample size, or number of units the inspector will check on site at
the factory. The bulk of your inspection will involve checks on the sample size associated
with a general inspection level, like checks for appearance, assembly and functionality.
In order to use the AQL table to determine your sample size, you’ll need to know your lot
size, or total order quantity, typically shown on your PO. Sample sizes can range from 2
to 2,000 units, depending on your lot size.

General inspection levels are divided into three levels based on inspection scope:

 GI – the smallest sample size available for your lot size, this is the “budget option”
offering the least transparency in the least amount of time
  GII – the “middle-ground” option that balances time and cost with transparency,
this is the most common inspection level for importers
 GIII – the largest sample size available for your lot size, this offers the most
transparency into your order’s quality and takes the most time to inspect

You might approach inspecting your product for the first time using the common “GII”
inspection level. But whichever level you choose, you can always adjust it for later
inspections based on earlier results. For example, if your supplier consistently meets
your quality standards and orders are easily passing inspection, you might lower the
inspection level. Whereas if your goods are repeatedly failing or narrowly passing
inspection, you might raise the inspection level.

5. Special inspection level

Special inspection levels are reserved for tests that you only intend to conduct on a
comparatively smaller sample sizethan the general inspection level sample size.
Whereas you’d use a general inspection level for tests and checks that are relatively
quick and easy to perform, you’d use a special inspection level for tests that:

 Are destructive to the product, like a fabric GSM test that involves cutting out a
piece of fabric from the sample
 Are expensive and/or time consuming to conduct, like a battery charging test
for electronic devices
 Tend to yield similar results across all units, like measuring the dimensions of
injection-molded components that don’t vary appreciably in size from one unit to
the next

Unlike the three general inspection levels, there are four special inspection levels, based
on your desired inspection scope. Similar to general inspection levels, S1 is the smallest
sample size for your lot size and S4 indicates the largest sample size. You might inspect
a larger or smaller sample size depending on how important a test is for evaluating your
product.

6. Critical defect
Critical defects are the most serious of the three main classes of defects QC
professionals use for product inspection (related: 3 Types of Quality Defects in Different
Products). When applying a unique AQL to each defect class, importers typically use an
AQL of 0.0 for critical defects, representing zero tolerance. This means that the entire
order will fail inspection if inspectors find a single critical defect in the sample.

QC professionals typically define defects as “critical” if they:

 Pose a safety hazard to the end customer

 Render the product unusable, and thus unsellable
 Often cause product recalls

Samsung’s now infamous

exploding batteries in theirGalaxy Note 7 would have been a critical defect, if found
during inspection. Other examples of critical defects can include:

 Mold on packaging or product

 Incorrect barcodes
 Needles left in a garment
 Rust found on industrial products
 Exposed nails or sharp edges

Because of the risk and severity of problems critical defects pose, most importers will
insist on replacing or reworking any goods found with critical defects and then re-
inspecting before shipment.

7. Major defect
Less serious than critical defects, major defects tend to be acceptable in limited
quantities but are still a concern. The most common AQL importers assign to major
defects is 2.5, though you may choose a different AQL based on your own tolerance for
defects. Inspectors typically consider a product defect to be “major” when it:

 Adversely affects the performance of a product

 Varies significantly from product specifications
 Would likely cause the end customer to return the product

Major defects aren’t likely to

endanger consumers or lead to product recalls. But they can still hurt customer
satisfaction, and ultimately, sales. Examples of major defects include:

 Holes or tears in a garment

 Obvious damage to a polybag
 Dimensions out of tolerance for industrial components
 Wobbling or uneven legs in an item of furniture
 A crack in a LED screen
 Dirt, discoloration or excess glue on a product that can’t easily be removed

Goods can fail inspection due to a quantity of major defects found beyond your tolerance
(see rejection and acceptance point below). When this happens it’s common for the
supplier to eliminate enough major defects—typically through product replacement,
repair or rework—such that the quantity found upon re-inspection is within the tolerance
set by the AQL for major defects.

8. Minor defect
Major defects are the least serious of the three defect classes. But your goods can still
fail inspection if the number of minor defects found exceeds your tolerance set by AQL.
An AQL of 4.0 is typical for minor defects, though you may choose a stricter or looser
AQL. Typically, minor defects are relatively small or insignificant issues that:

 Do not affect the product’s functionality or form

 Are not noticeable to the customer upon unpacking the product
 Would be unlikely to cause a customer to return the product based on the
presence of one minor defect alone

Despite their lower severity, a

large quantity of minor defects in your product can still have a negative impact on sales
and how your customers view your brand, especially if you’re selling your product at a
high price point. Examples of minor defects include:

 Untrimmed threads on a garment, furniture upholstery or plush toy

 Minor color deviation within packaging
 Illegible graphics on retail packaging
 Removable dirt, dust or excess glue on an item
 Poor coating of polish or veneer

Some quality issues can be classified as either a minor or a major defect, depending on
the severity of the issue or the prevalence in the sample. For instance, you might
consider a scratch in a ceramic dish to be a minor defect if less than 2cm long and major
if 2cm or longer. Likewise, you might consider the same issue to be a minor defect that
another importer manufacturing a similar product considers to be a major defect.

9. Acceptance point
Typically denoted as “Ac” in the AQL table, the acceptance point indicates the
maximum number of defects allowed in a given sample size and at a given AQL to
accept an order. Just as many importers assign a different AQL to each of the three
defect classes, they’ll also have a different acceptance point for each. Most importers
have a higher acceptance point for minor and major defects than for critical defects,
reflecting the range in AQL values they choose.

A sample conforms to your selected AQL if the number of defects found is equal to, or
less than, your acceptance point for that defect class.

10. Rejection point

Typically denoted as “Re” in the AQL table, the rejection point indicates the
minimum number of defects in a given sample size and at a given AQL to reject an
order. The acceptance point and rejection point go hand-in-hand. And your rejection
point will always be one value higher than your acceptance point when using a single-
sampling plan.

If the number of defects found is equal to, or greater than, the rejection point, the sample
does not conform to your chosen AQL for that defect type. Typically, importers will
respond by rejecting, or asking their supplier to hold, the order until enough defects are
remedied to pass re-inspection.
Conclusion
As with using any sampling plan, your transparency and the accuracy of results are
limited by the size of the sample taken. And there’s always a risk that you might reject
“good” lots or accept “bad” lots when making shipping decisions based on the results of
acceptance sampling (related: What QC Inspection Results Do and Don't Mean for Your
Shipment).

But using an inspection method based on acceptance sampling, like AQL, ensures
that you don’t inspect more goods than necessary, and in turn, don’t spend more
time or money on inspection than needed. And for most importers, the relatively low
risk inherent in checking a sample heavily outweighs alternative ways of inspecting their
goods before shipment.

Would you be able to determine the right sample size for inspecting your product, using
only an industry-standard AQL table? What about the maximum number of defects
allowed to accept the order based on AQL standards?

It’s no secret to most importers that product inspection is a vital process for determining if
a shipment of goods meets their expectations. But many importers don’t understand
the sampling methods QC professionals use for inspecting their products. You
might see an AQL chart and not know what various parts of the chart mean or how to
use them. Or maybe you don’t know how to interpret the AQL results shown in your
inspection report.

You could use a simple AQL calculator to get the information you need quickly. But
understanding how the table works can go a long way in helping you interpret your
inspection results and decide how to act on them. So let’s jump into the step-by-step
process for using the AQL table for QC inspection (related: The Importer's Guide to
Managing Product Quality with AQL [eBook]).

4 Steps to determining your sample

size and defect tolerance using the
AQL table
Several acceptance sampling standards have come and gone over the years since
the U.S. military first adopted sampling procedures during World War II. Most QC
inspectors today use the ANSI ASQ Z1.4 standard AQL table, and that’s the one we’ll
focus on here. This chart will help you decide how many units to pull randomly from your
total order quantity for inspection and the maximum number of defects to accept in the
finished goods.

1. Choose your inspection type and inspection level

Your inspection type will be either “general” or “special” shown in the two columns on the
first part of the table. You’ll most likely want to use general, as this represents the main
sample size you’ll be using for inspection. The special inspection type is reserved for
particular types of product testing and other checks that you need only perform on a
smaller portion of your order.

A number of inspection levels divide each inspection type. The columns further to the left
include higher inspection levels representing a larger scope and contributing to a larger
sample size. Most inspections of the general type, for example, will fall under “GII”, which
is the most popular. Importers requiring a less thorough inspection and those with a
relatively tight inspection budget may choose “GI” for a smaller inspection sample size.
More quality-conscious importers may select “GIII” for a larger sample size.
2. Find the sample size letter corresponding to your
lot size and chosen inspection level
Your lot size is the quantity of each stock keeping unit (SKU), or item, in your order. You
might consider combining similar SKUs and inspecting these together, since inspecting
more SKUs separately can greatly increase the time needed and cost for inspection.

Let’s say you’re using AQL to inspect 3,000 watches you’re buying from a factory in
Yiwu, China. There are five different SKUs in the order, but since they only differ in color,
you’ve chosen to combine the SKUs and inspect them as one. Find your lot size among
the ranges shown in the “lot size” column—“1201 to 3200”.

Assuming you’ve chosen the general inspection level GII, you’ll find that the letter “K”
appears where your lot size row and inspection level column meet. This is your “sample
size code letter”, which represents a sample size in another part of the AQL chart. You’ll
use this in combination with your acceptable quality level to determine how many units to
pull for inspection.
3. Choose your AQLs for inspection
On the second part of the AQL chart, you’ll find acceptable quality levels (AQL) at the top
and sample size code letters along the left side. You can clearly see that your sample
size code letter K corresponds to a sample size of 125 units. But what about your AQL?

Your AQL represents your relative tolerance for quality defects, the worst average
percentage or ratio of defects that is acceptable. Higher AQLs represent higher
tolerances. That’s not to say that you should aim for having some defective units in your
order. Rather, you should set a limit for how many defects you’re willing to accept in an
order. That’s why some professionals have started using the term acceptable
quality limit in lieu of the original term acceptable quality level.
If you’ve classified your quality defects as “critical”, “major” or “minor”, you’ll typically use
a unique AQL for each type (related: 3 Types of Quality Defects in Different Products).
In this example, let’s use an AQL of 0 percent, 2.5 percent and 4 percent for critical,
major and minor defects, respectively.

4. Determine accept and reject points and sample

size based on your AQL
Each AQL column splits into two more columns, “Ac” and “Re”. These are your accept
and reject points. If you find a quantity of defects greater than your accept point,
you should reject the order based on your chosen AQL. When we look below the AQL
of 4 percent, we can see that the accept and reject points corresponding to your sample
size row of 125 units are 10 and 11 defects, respectively. This means that if you find 11
minor defects or more in your sample, you should reject the order.
Sometimes you may find an arrow pointing up or down in place of accept and rejects
points when matching your original sample size with your chosen AQL. An arrow pointing
down shows that a greater sample size is needed than you first calculated based on your
lot size. An arrow pointing up shows that your original lot size is excessive at that AQL,
and a smaller sample size is adequate.

For example, if your AQL is a relateively strict 0.065 percent, your original sample size of
125 units is inadequate. You’ll need to follow the arrow on the chart pointing down to the
next accept and reject points, 0 units and 1 unit, coupled with the next largest sample
size, 200 units. This is the smallest sample size you can pull that that will be statistically
significant enough to determine whether defects are, on average, within your limit.
Many inspectors use the largest sample size found among the three defect types for all
three, rather than pulling a different quantity of units to check for critical, major and minor
defects separately.

How to pull a sample on-site that fairly

represents your order
The procedure for conducting QC inspection can vary considerably between different
importers and different product types and is outside the scope of this article. But how to
pull a representative sample of goods for inspection is generally a consistent process
that’s closely related to AQL. You must ensure that QC staff pull a truly
representative sample for inspection in order to make a reasonable determination
about your order quality with AQL.

A representative sample is a random sample

What do we mean by “representative” here? A representative sample is one pulled at
random. Sometimes factory staff will collect the best-quality units from production and
store them in a specific area, with the aim of directing inspectors to pull samples only
from there. But a survey of the residents of one state in the United States isn’t likely to
accurately represent the residents of all 50 states. Similarly, you can’t reasonably
understand the average quality of your order by only inspecting the units in one specific
area of the warehouse.

How to ensure you’re pulling cartons at random for

inspection
It may be easy to pull all the cartons for your sample from the top of pallets. But some
factories might try to hide defective products in the bottom and interior areas. Others may
have implemented a new production process which has impacted units in the latter part
of your order. That’s why QC staff generally don’t pull more than 50 percent of
samples from the top. Instead, inspectors should be pulling cartons from the top,
bottom, front, back and everywhere in between to get a fair average.

In our earlier example of inspecting watches, we found that you’d need to pull a sample
size of 125 units for GII inspection. Let’s say there are 25 units in each carton. Would
you rather your inspector check all 25 units by pulling just 5 cartons, or spread this
sample out over 12 cartons? The latter would be more representative of your whole
order. An effective method for calculating the number of cartons to pull from is
to take the square root of the total number of cartons, but no fewer than 3 cartons.
So if there are only 3 cartons, you’ll pull from all 3 cartons.

AQL is a can be a very helpful tool in allowing you to inspect your products efficiently.
But in order for acceptance sampling to give you reliable results, you need to ensure
you’re pulling your samples at random and getting a representative look at your total
shipment.

Conclusion
Expressing your quality standards in terms of AQL helps you clearly define the scope of
inspection that you need. AQL has become the common language that importers,
suppliers and QC professionals rely on for evaluating product quality and conformance
during product inspection (related: Why QC Professionals Use AQL Sampling for
Product Inspection). But many importers struggle to understand how to use the AQL
table to determine sample size and acceptable quality levels. And until now, you may
have counted yourself among them.

Now you know how to follow the AQL chart like a pro. Be sure to include AQLs in the QC
checklist you develop with your supplier and quality team. And remember that setting
your expectations for quality and other requirements early on is one of the best ways to
prevent issues before they occur.

What portion of units with defects would you consider acceptable in a shipment of goods
you’re importing?

If you’re like many importers, you might strive to manufacture products with as few
quality defects as possible. If you’re very new to importing, you might even expect your
goods to be completely free of defects. But the reality is that factories everywhere in the
world almost always manufacture products with some defects and nonconformities. An
understanding of AQL sampling will help you get the best quality possible (related: The
Importer’s Guide to Managing Product Quality with AQL [eBook]).

AQL stands for acceptable quality level, or acceptable quality limit. In basic terms, AQL
represents the minimum quality you’re willing to tolerate in an order. Your first
instinct might be to choose the lowest AQL, in hopes of assuring the factory produces
goods of the highest possible quality. But when you send an inspector to check a
shipment at the factory, your chosen AQL will most likely be reflected in the report they
issue to you.

By setting an unreasonably high standard for quality that your supplier can’t meet, the
order will likely fail inspection. Let’s look at how AQL and other factors to determine the
result of your inspections and how you can use that result to make a decision about
shipping or holding an order.

AQL sampling results vs. overall

inspection results
Most product inspection reports that use AQL will highlight two results—an AQL result
and an overall result. While an AQL result of “pass” is a necessary condition for an
overall result of “pass”, it’s not the only condition. There are also other factors that
determine the overall result of a product inspection. And knowing the difference between
these will help you to understand your inspection report and the role AQL plays in the
result.

Understanding the role of AQL sampling in

determining pass or fail
AQL is a type of acceptance sampling, a quality control process dating back to World
War II. The U.S. military used sampling as a method to efficiently test a fraction of a
product shipment. Then, based on those results, they were able to make conclusions
about the average quality of the total order. This same process has allowed the military—
and countless importers since—to reliably control quality without needing to inspect
every unit of an order. Let’s look at how AQL sampling helps determine inspection
results.

Setting your tolerance for quality issues with AQL

QC professionals use AQL to represent the customer’s tolerance for defects. For
example, importers buying low-cost promotional goods tend to have a relatively high
tolerance for quality defects. They might use an AQL of 4 or 6 for certain types of
defects. Conversely, importers buying more expensive products or working in quality-
strict industries, like aerospace, often use a lower AQL between 0 and 1 for certain
defects.

Importers will have specific limits to the number of defects allowed in an order,
depending on their chosen AQL. These are dictated by accept and reject points
corresponding to a given AQL and sample size shown in the AQL table. For example, if
your sample size is 80 units and your AQL is 1, your accept point is 2 defects and your
reject point is 3 defects. This means that if inspection finds 3 or more defects in a
random sample of 80 units, the AQL result will be fail (related: How Importers Use the
AQL Table for Product Inspection).
Using different AQLs for different classes of defects

QC professionals generally separate different defects based on severity, applying a

different AQL to each defect type (related: 3 Types of Quality Defects in Different
Products). Inspectors often pull a single sample to check for all defect types, but each
defect type will often have its own accept and reject point. Here are the three classes in
which inspectors commonly separate and report defects:

1. Critical – defects which violate regulations or can cause serious harm to the user
or their property. For example, inspectors typically report a sharp edge on a
product as a critical defect given the hazard it poses to consumers.
2. Major – defects that will likely result in product returns from customers but do not
represent a safety risk to the user. For example, inspectors might report failure of
a basic function of a product, like volume control on a mobile phone, as a major
defect.
3. Minor – defects that don’t affect the product’s function and aren’t likely to result in
product returns. For example, a small scratch mark found in the enamel of a
skillet might count as a minor defect to some cookware importers.

Importers commonly choose a lower AQL for critical defects and a higher AQL for minor
defects, with a third AQL somewhere in between for major defects. Sometimes
inspection reveals more defects of a particular class than the acceptable number of
defects (accept point) determined by the AQL for that class. In such cases, the AQL
result is “fail” and you can conclude that similar defects affect an unacceptably high
percentage of the entire order.

Other factors that commonly affect the overall

inspection result
The overall result is typically the first one you’ll see when viewing an inspection report,
and it’s the one importers are mainly concerned with. The AQL result largely determines
the overall result, but there are other factors at work as well.An inspection report can
show an overall result of fail, despite having an AQL result of pass. Let’s explore
what issues outside AQL sampling might contribute to this result.

On-site product testing conducted on a small sample

Most products are subject to a number of industry-specific, on-site tests during

inspection. Some tests are relatively easy and efficient to perform, like testing the zipper
on a garment or turning an electronic product on and off once. Inspectors often perform
these tests on what’s called the “general inspection level” sample size, or the main
sample size for inspection. These test results tend to appear as part of the AQL result.

Often there are other tests which, though necessary, are also time consuming, costly or
destructive to the product itself. Inspectors typically perform these tests on a much
smaller sample size, sometimes determined by a chosen “special inspection level”. For
example, fabric composition testing for garments is usually only necessary for 3 units or
fewer because composition typically doesn’t vary significantly across units in the same
batch, and composition testing is often destructive.
The results of these tests aren’t reflected in the AQL result and are reported
separately. An order can pass for AQL, but fail overall for not meeting the
requirements of an on-site product test. This often happens when testing a product
against certain claims made by the manufacturer, such as testing watches for water
resistance up to a certain depth. In this example, product tests are essential to
determining whether the product is sellable. And that’s why the overall inspection result
considers testing results.

General packaging requirements

Inspectors often include packaging requirements which are specific to a particular SKU in
the AQL result. For example, different product lines in the same order may be distributed
through different retailers, which often have their own packaging

requirements. Failure to meet

these requirements may be shown in the inspection report as defects in the AQL section.

Other packaging requirements are more general. Failure to meet any of these could
result an in overall inspection result of fail, regardless of the AQL result. For example,
you may have a strict requirement that factory workers label shipper cartons with printed
stickers, rather than hand written markings. Any issue here would likely affect all or most
of the shipment and would likely affect the overall result of inspection.

Nonconformities omitted from the QC checklist or other specifications

An inspector might find nonconformities or other issues that you didn’t include in
specifications or your QC checklist. Inspectors may find that a product’s color doesn’t
closely match the color of an approved sample you provided for comparison, for
example. If these inconsistencies aren’t categorized as defects that fall under the classes
used for AQL, inspectors will often cite them separately in the report.
If there are previously unspecified nonconformities in the order, you’ll often receive a
“pending” result, rather than a clear pass or fail result. This is usually because, without
having clear guidance on how to report these particular issues, inspectors don’t know
how serious you consider them to be. They often need your feedback to clarify these
before they can report a pass or fail result in the future.

Deciding whether to accept an order

based on inspection results
Contrary to a common misconception, inspection results don’t dictate shipping decisions.
They merely empower importers to make informed decisions. As the
importer, you’re ultimately responsible for deciding whether an order is acceptable
to ship (related: What QC Inspection Results Do and Don’t Mean for Your Shipment).

The best way to ensure that your inspection results reflect your quality standards is to
provide all relevant specifications and inspection criteria to QC staff prior to inspection.
For inspections based on AQL, you’ll also want to decide which AQL to use and advise
your inspection team accordingly. In general, three major considerations govern the
shipping decisions of most importers:

Meeting customer expectations for your products

You should aim to set inspection criteria and AQLs that reflect your customers’
expectations of your product. You’re probably quite familiar with what your customers
expect from your product, and these expectations tend to depend largely on your price
level and product type. An importer selling high-end jewelry, for example, is likely to have

a relatively strict AQL.

Whereas an importer selling lower-cost, plastic dinnerware is more likely to be lenient
with the quality of the goods that ship.

It’s not uncommon for importers to make a shipping decision contrary to inspection
results, if those results don’t accurately reflect their customers’ expectations. In fact,
you’ll probably need to adjust your AQL standards to be more or less strict as you
continue production, particularly if you’re manufacturing a new product. Inspection results
tend to adhere more closely to expectations as you inspect the same products
repeatedly.

Meeting regulatory requirements in your market

Sometimes the need to meet regulations can override a passing inspection. For
example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates the quality of medical
devices, due to safety concerns. They consider an AQL of 1.5 to be the minimum level of
quality acceptable for surgical gloves. They accept a more lenient AQL of 2.5 for patient
examination gloves, since these are worn in a lower-risk environment.

Other examples of heavily-regulated products are fire alarms, sprinklers and carbon
monoxide detectors because of the potentially severe consequences of the product
malfunctioning. If inspection criteria don’t include conformance to regulations, you might
reject an order, even if the overall inspection result is pass. Keep your QC team updated
on any regulations your product must meet, to ensure that inspection results accurately
reflect these.

Considering the time and cost needed for any

corrective actions
The third main consideration for accepting an order is the time and cost needed to
perform any corrective actions for a shipment. If you’re importing injection-molded,
plastic displays from a factory in China, for example, the product might fail inspection due
to a high number of flow marks found, a minor
defect. Like many importers,
you might consider whether factory workers can repair or rework the affected units.

But this particular defect is basically impossible to mend. The factory would need to
produce entirely new units to replace those with the visible flow marks. This may not be
reasonable given the additional time and cost involved, especially if you urgently need to
ship the order. Despite the failed inspection, you might ask your supplier to ship the order
anyway, deciding that the benefits of shipping the goods as they are outweigh the costs
of corrective action.

Inspection reports are meant to be a guide for helping importers determine if an order is
acceptable for shipment. They aren’t indisputable authorization from your inspector or
third-party QC company to your supplier to ship an order. Reports often prominently
display an overall result, such as pass, fail or pending. But you should still practice due
diligence in reading through the details of the report, especially when the result is
pending.

Conclusion
By using AQL sampling for product inspection, importers can set clear allowances for
potential defects found in an order. AQL results are a major determinant of the overall
result shown in a typical inspection report. But they’re not the only factor. Understanding
how AQL and these other factors affect the results of an inspection enables you to
decide how to act on the information inspection provides. And when you’re well informed
about AQL and its implications, it’s much easier to manage the quality of your products
and give your customers what they want.