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Inspection planning

An inspection concept starts with the right question

What needs to be established about a component? Connect requirements, methods and evidence before choosing equipment.

2 min readUpdated: Editorial team: NPB NDT Consulting

Define the task before selecting equipment

An inspection concept sets out the intended inspection statement and the conditions under which it is valid. Start with component function, material, geometry, manufacturing condition and the discontinuities of interest. An equipment list cannot replace this work. The position in the manufacturing sequence also matters: machining may change which regions are accessible.

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From inspection task to series production

Consider inspection technology, production and quality together.

  1. 01

    Clarify requirements

    Component, quality objective and inspection extent

  2. 02

    Develop the inspection concept

    Methods, feasibility and evidence

  3. 03

    Support integration

    Handling, system functions and data interfaces

  4. 04

    Coordinate system ramp-up

    Procedures, system checks and documentation

  5. 05

    Train the team

    Operation, roles and escalation routes

  6. 06

    Support series production

    Monitoring, changes and improvements

Technical requirements · Clear interfaces · Traceable implementation

Conceptual sequence. Scope and responsibilities are agreed for each project.

Turn requirements into verifiable steps

Agree the inspection regions, applicable specifications and evaluation basis with the responsible quality team. Include reference checks, invalid inspections and the handling of cases requiring clarification. An indication is not automatically a rejectable defect; evaluation requires the agreed criteria and context.

Prepare implementation together

Production, NDT specialists and the equipment supplier need a shared requirements baseline. A simple link between each requirement, its proposed implementation and the planned evidence helps identify gaps. Give open items an owner and a due date. Assess changes to the component or production sequence for their effect on the concept.

Practical checklist

  • Define component condition and inspection stage
  • Describe inspection regions and the required statement
  • Agree evaluation and clarification routes
  • Assign evidence and responsibilities

Planning example

Illustrative planning example, not a customer reference.

Planning example: For a machined forging, consider inspection of the blank separately from any supplementary inspection after machining. Combining the results requires a technical assessment of what each inspection establishes.

Key takeaway

The outcome is a shared technical basis for procurement, inspection and documentation, with explicit limitations.

Technical sources

The articles and method descriptions provide general technical orientation. The organisations listed are technical sources, not customers or partners of NPB NDT Consulting. Sources may be in German or English.

These articles provide technical orientation. The specific inspection task and applicable requirements must be assessed for each project.

Would you like to apply this question to your component or process? Start by describing the task in general terms.

Discuss your inspection task

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