Audience: Quality engineers and technicians handling receiving inspection with limited staffing.
Receiving checklist
- Verify PO, part number, revision, and supplier paperwork before opening lots.
- Confirm certs and special process records are present where required.
- Identify critical characteristics from print and control plan.
- Apply your sampling plan and document quantity inspected.
- Record measurement method, gage ID, and inspector initials.
- Tag nonconforming items immediately to prevent floor release.
- Create disposition path for hold, rework, return, or supplier deviation.
- Close the loop with supplier communication and corrective action tracking.
Minimum data to log every time
- Supplier name and lot traceability info.
- Part number and revision at time of receipt.
- Characteristic results and acceptance criteria used.
- Inspection sample size and rationale.
- Disposition status and who approved release.
Fast risk scoring model
If your team is overloaded, prioritize incoming checks with a simple score based on supplier history, part criticality, and process stability. Start with high-risk lots first, then scale sampling down for stable suppliers.
- High risk: New supplier, critical feature history, unstable process.
- Medium risk: Existing supplier with occasional escapes.
- Low risk: Stable process and clean history across recent lots.
Where automation helps
Incoming inspection and first article reporting both suffer when teams retype data into spreadsheets. A controlled PDF to report workflow reduces repeated manual entry and improves traceability.
Also read: FAI ballooning checklist for drawing-to-report flow control.