Quality Inspections

Forge's inspection module supports the quality workflow used by aerospace, medical-device, and precision machining shops: a first-article inspection (FAI) that documents every feature on a part, an in-process series that samples critical features on a cadence, and a final inspection at end-of-run. Qualitative pass/fail checks (e.g., "engraving present") sit alongside dimensional measurements.

Opening an Inspection

From any job detail page, scroll to the Quality Inspection section for the part you want to inspect. If the part has no inspection yet, you'll see a "Create inspection" button. If it does, you'll see a tree of existing reports — FAI, in-process series, individual event reports, and final — each clickable to reopen in the editor.

The part must have at least one PDF drawing attached for the inspection editor to render. Upload the drawing from the Files section first if it's missing.

First Article Inspection (FAI)

The FAI is the baseline — it documents every inspected feature on the part, used for first-article acceptance and as the source for downstream series.

Creating the FAI

  1. Click Create inspection. The editor opens.
  2. Select the drawing PDF and target page.
  3. Click Extract dimensions — Forge's AI reads the drawing and populates the characteristics table with every dimension, tolerance, and callout it finds, complete with balloon positions on the drawing.
  4. Review the extracted rows. Drag balloons on the drawing to reposition them; the table highlights the corresponding row. Edit any nominal values or tolerances that the AI got wrong.
  5. Add any rows the AI missed with + Add row:
    • Dimensional — standard size-and-tolerance measurement.
    • Geometric — GD&T callout (flatness, perpendicularity, position, etc.). Uses the upper tolerance as the max allowed deviation.
    • Surface finish — Ra value or similar.
    • General — notes or requirements that don't fit another category.
    • Qualitative — pass/fail check with no measurement (see below).

Filling in Actuals

When inspecting a physical part, enter the measured value in the Actual column. Forge auto-computes pass/fail based on the nominal ± tolerance band. Rows with no actual value yet show an em-dash.

Click Save to persist progress; click Save & Mark as Complete when the inspection is finished. Once completed, a report becomes read-only unless you explicitly click Edit to reopen it.

Exporting

The download button in the editor header produces a two-page PDF:

  • Page 1: the original drawing with balloons drawn on top.
  • Page 2+: the characteristics table with pass/fail verdict, inspector, date, and an overall pass/fail summary at the bottom.

Use this as the compliance artifact for customers who require inspection records.

Qualitative Characteristics

Not every requirement is a measurement. "Is the engraving visible?" is a yes/no call. Forge handles these with qualitative rows:

  1. Click + Add row → Qualitative.
  2. Fill in the characteristic label (e.g., "Surface free of scratches").
  3. Use the Pass / Fail control in the Actual column — no numeric input, no tolerance.
  4. Optionally add notes for context.

Qualitative rows appear in the pass/fail summary just like dimensional rows and roll up into the overall verdict.

In-Process Inspection Series

Inspecting every feature on every part is expensive. The in-process series lets you sample only the critical-to-quality (CTQ) features on a defined cadence — for example, "check these 5 characteristics every 10 parts off the CNC."

Creating a Series

  1. Open the FAI for the part.
  2. Click Create in-process series →. A modal opens.
  3. Set the frequency (e.g., every 10 parts).
  4. Give the series a title (defaults to "In-process — {part name}").
  5. Tick the characteristics that should be sampled. These become the CTQ set. The modal requires at least one.
  6. Click Save. Forge creates an anchor report — the template for the series — containing only the ticked characteristics with blank actuals.

The anchor itself is never filled in. You'll see a banner at the top reading "This is the template for the in-process series. Click 'Record inspection' to start a new event."

Recording Inspections

Every time an operator does a sampling inspection, they click Record inspection — Unit #N. Forge spawns a new event report with the anchor's characteristics cloned and blank actuals. The event is labeled with the sequence number (Unit #1, #2, #3…) so you have a full audit trail of what was inspected and when.

Fill in actuals on the event just like any other inspection, then complete it. The tree view under Quality Inspection shows each event's pass/fail status.

Editing a Series

Click Edit series settings from inside the anchor editor to change the frequency, title, or CTQ selection. Changes apply to new events — already-recorded events keep their original characteristics frozen in time, preserving the audit trail.

The Production Board Shortcut

When a work order is actively running on the shop floor, the production board surfaces the in-process cadence inline. Each work-order card with an active series shows a small badge:

🔍 Inspect every 10 parts · 3 logged

Click the badge to open a popover with:

  • The last three recorded events and their pass/fail status.
  • Record inspection — Unit #N — the primary action. Clicking spawns a new event and jumps directly into the editor with actuals ready to fill in.
  • Open series — secondary link to the anchor editor for reviewing or editing settings.

The badge turns red if the most recent event failed, a soft signal to pause and investigate before producing more parts.

Note: Forge counts events logged, not units produced. If your "every 10 parts" rule means an operator should inspect exactly 10 units between events, it's on the operator to follow through. Forge doesn't auto-trigger inspections — it displays the rule and makes recording easy.

Final Inspection

At end-of-run you often want to re-verify the complete characteristic set, especially for aerospace sign-off. From the FAI, click Create final report →. Forge clones every FAI characteristic (not just CTQ) into a fresh final report with blank actuals. Fill it in and complete it like any other inspection.

Deleting Reports

Clicking the trash icon in the editor deletes a report. Deletion cascades:

  • Delete the FAI → the entire chain is wiped (anchor, all events, final).
  • Delete the anchor → all its events are wiped, but the FAI and final stay.
  • Delete an individual event or the final → only that report is removed.

Forge shows a confirmation dialog listing everything that would be affected before deletion. Once confirmed, the data is gone — this cannot be undone.

Permissions

  • Creating inspections requires the inspections.create permission.
  • Filling in actuals, editing series settings, or marking complete requires inspections.update.
  • Viewing requires inspections.view.

The default QC Inspector role has all three. Supervisors and admins can also create and update. Operators are view-only by default — adjust role permissions from Settings → Team & Account if your workflow needs different access.

Quick Reference

| Action | Where | |---|---| | Create first inspection (FAI) | Quality Inspection section → "Create inspection" | | Add a measurement row | Inside editor → "+ Add row" dropdown | | Add a pass/fail check | Inside editor → "+ Add row → Qualitative" | | Start an in-process series | FAI editor header → "Create in-process series →" | | Record a sampling inspection | Anchor editor OR Production board badge popover | | Change CTQ selection or frequency | Anchor editor → "Edit series settings" | | Close out with end-of-run verification | FAI editor → "Create final report →" | | Export PDF | Editor header → download icon | | Delete a report | Editor header → trash icon |

← Tracking Progress