Adding test steps

Inspect / Manager offers two types of tests that you can use in inspection plans or inspection orders:

• attribute tests and
• variable tests.

Attribute tests are for the inspection of qualitative or Boolean properties. Typical examples are visual inspections. E.g. you may need to check if the color of an item meets the product description, or whether the packaging is properly closed.

Variable tests are used for quantitative testing, i.e. to check measurable properties of an item, such as its dimensions or weight.

Click Add test at the bottom of the Inspect / Manager inspection plan or inspection order detail screen to insert a new test. (In the case of an inspection order, you can also add the full stack of readily configured tests contained in an inspection plan. Just select Add from inspection plan to do so.)

Enter a name for your new test and then select the type of test you need. You can also specify the equipment that the inspectors will need to use on the shop floor to perform the given test. Any number of equipment can be added from the dropdown when you click in the Equipment field. You can also select inactive equipment, just note that they are displayed in the dropdown in red font (like Thermometer in the screenshot below).

You can add as many attribute and variable tests to an inspection plan or inspection order as you need. The sequence of the tests reflects the order in which the inspectors should perform the tests on the shop floor. Click the (drag) icon to drag and drop the given test to a different position.

Attribute tests

In an attribute test, you may want to check an item’s appearance or other properties that cannot be objectively measured. When judging such properties, the inspector (operator) may come across some typical issues.

Attribute tests may have three results:

- when the attribute is clearly acceptable,

- when the attribute should be rejected,

- when it is up to the inspector's personal judgement whether the attribute's difference from the target is tolerable.

Click on the label in the Result column to toggle between the above options.

For example, the painting on the item may relatively often have spots or color differences or the edges may not be evenly processed. In Inspect, such recurring problems are called defects.

In attribute tests, you can specify one or more preset defects for Manual and Failed attributes. These presets allow you to consistently record common qualitative issues with an item, increasing the integrity of your data and speeding up data entry on the shop floor. The inspector can select from these preset defects during data collection.

To add a defect, click the Add defect button (see above), define a new defect and press Enter. You can select a preset defect required for your test by ticking the checkbox beside it. Your selection will take effect once you click Confirm under the list of defects. To display the defects selected for a given attribute, click the (Defects) icon beside the attribute.

Variable tests

In variable tests, you need to specify the Minimumand Maximum& values for the test per sample to be considered passed. The Desired value is set halfway these two values by default but can be changed. For example, you may want to have the target weight equal to or higher than a certain number, but by no means below.

Do not mix up the approval target and the test range here. The approval target has nothing to do with the actual result – it is about how many samples can fail overall without the test being considered an overall failure. The approval target can also be changed by using the Variable test range slider.