Quality Control Inspector

General Overview
The Quality Control Inspector is instrumental in maintaining a quality culture in the plant through the constant communication with shop floor personnel and management regarding product status and issues. The level of adherence to, and enforcement of, quality standards and specifications directly correlates to the expectations of all parties involved in the fabrication process.
Knowledge of the various areas of quality control is paramount for the inspector position as this determines their basis for determining product conformance. This knowledge includes drawing interpretation, material and post process specifications, inspection principles and methodologies, inspection equipment and its limitations, statistical process control, and applicable company, customer, and industry specifications.
The primary responsibility of the inspector is to verify product conformance, generally through measurements or testing. The inspector will be required to use some highly technical equipment such as a CMM, white light interferometer, and vision systems. Additionally, there is a wealth of standard hand tools and gaging the inspector should be very familiar with using.
The secondary responsibility of the inspector is sustaining the administrative side of the quality department. Quality records are constantly being generated and need to be transformed to an electronic format and filed correctly in the quality system database.

1. Performing in-process inspections by confirming product meets the applicable specifications. For new product, this will involve creating a new in-process form and compensating dimensions for coatings (process dimension) where applicable. Inspections are performed by using inspection or testing equipment to measure product characteristics and recording those outputs. Any needed or desired adjustments will need to be communicated to the machine operators. Some parts have critical internal features that require measurement, and may require the part be sectioned using cutting equipment.
2. Performing final inspections by confirming product meets the applicable specifications, may include dimensional verification, visual examination, or verifying the appropriate documentation is in place.
3. Performing first article inspections, this includes creating the bubble diagram and first article inspection form(s). The inspector should be familiar with alternate formats such as AS9102 or customer specific forms.
4. Documenting Non-conformances, includes determining the scope of the non-conformance, segregating and tagging the NCM, and communicating the non-conformance to the necessary personnel. Additionally, may involve communicating directly with customer to resolve the non-conformance.
5. Documenting administrative (process) discrepancies.
6. Scan and file quality records into the Quality System Database.
7. Maintain work environment by following standards and company procedures.
8. Performing regular cleaning and maintenance of inspection labs and the equipment therein.
9. Assist personnel throughout the plant with interpretation of drawings and specifications.
10. Perform tasks assigned by the Quality Manager and Lead Inspector.
11. Suggest improvements for the Quality Department.

Knowledge
• Drawing symbols, formats, and Geometric Dimension and Tolerancing (ASME Y15.5)
• Surface Finish symbols and callouts (ASME B46.1)
• Material, Coatings, and applicable industry specifications
• Principles of measuring devices: micrometers, height scans, vision scopes, comparators, others
• Measurement principles, the variables surrounding each, measurement uncertainty
• Inspection equipment software: PCDMIS, Measure X, Measure Fit, and MetroPro
• Office software: Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Mathematics: adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, geometry, algebra, trigonometry
• Shop operations, systems and work flow
Technology and Technical Skills
• Read and interpret customer drawings and specification
• Calculate process dimensions, compensating for coatings when applicable
• Use guard banding on tolerances for added protection from OOS dimensions
• Create the necessary inspection forms to verify product conformance, may include First Article, In-Process, or Final inspection forms
• Conducting accurate measurements, ensuring the negative variables or risks have been minimized.
• Operate inspection equipment and software
• Operate computers and effectively manage files


Education/Experience
Requires a high school diploma and quality, involved job shadowing with an expert and/or previous work experience with blueprint reading and measurement tool use. Experience with modeling software a plus.

Job Relationships
Reports to and receives feedback on performance from Quality/ISO Manager.