The part is made. The paperwork is not.
The first off came off the machine at eleven. It was on the CMM by twelve. It is now four o'clock and the inspector is still going through the drawing, putting numbered balloons on every dimension, note and thread callout, typing each one into the FAI form, and then copying the measured value across from the CMM printout or the notes from the height gauge.
The customer wants the report before they will release the rest of the batch. The machine is sitting set up, waiting.
Why FAI takes so long
The measuring is not the slow part. The admin around it is. Every characteristic on the drawing has to be identified, numbered, described and matched to a result, and that is done by eye and by keyboard.
- Balloons are added by hand in a PDF editor.
- Each characteristic is typed into a spreadsheet with its nominal and tolerance.
- CMM results are printed or exported, then retyped.
- Manual gauge readings are written on paper and typed up later.
- Different customers want different report formats, so the template is rebuilt each time.
What it costs you
A machine held waiting for FAI sign off is capacity you are paying for and not using. The inspector is tied up on paperwork instead of inspecting. Typing errors in the report lead to queries from the customer's quality team, and a report that has to be reissued looks worse than one that was a little late. When a partial FAI is needed after a revision change, the whole process starts again.
The FAI tool we build
- The drawing PDF is loaded and an AI step identifies the dimensions, tolerances, geometric callouts, threads and notes, and proposes a numbered balloon for each.
- The inspector reviews the list on screen, adds anything missed, removes anything that is not a characteristic, and confirms the numbering. The ballooned drawing is saved.
- Each characteristic has its nominal, tolerance and measurement method. The tool can suggest a method from your past reports for similar features.
- CMM output, as CSV or the report file your software exports, is matched to characteristics by name or number, so results drop in without retyping.
- Hand measurements are entered on a tablet at the bench against the numbered list, with pass or fail shown as they are typed.
- The report is generated in the format each customer asks for, including the form layouts common in aerospace supply chains, and stored against the job and drawing revision.
| Source of result | How it gets into the report |
|---|---|
| CMM program | Imported from its export file |
| Height gauge, micrometer, bore gauge | Typed on a tablet at the bench |
| Thread gauges and visual checks | Pass or fail tick against the characteristic |
| Outside processing | Supplier certificate attached |
| Material | Linked certificate from goods in |
What the inspector's afternoon looks like now
The balloons are proposed rather than drawn, so the inspector's job is to check them. CMM results arrive in the right rows. The report is ready soon after the last reading, which means the machine gets its go ahead sooner. When a revision changes a handful of features, the tool shows which characteristics are new or changed, so a partial FAI covers just those.
The reports also become searchable. When a customer asks for the FAI on a part you first made three years ago, it is on the job and the drawing revision, not in a folder on the inspector's desktop. And because the characteristics are stored, a repeat order can be inspected against the same numbered list without ballooning the drawing again.
Is FAI slowing your first offs?
- Set machines wait for FAI sign off.
- CMM results are retyped into reports.
- Each customer's report format is rebuilt by hand.
- Balloons are drawn manually in a PDF editor.
- Reports have gone back with typing errors.