Inspection Characteristic (QM-PT-BD-ICH)

Purpose

You use inspection characteristics to describe the inspection criteria for materials, parts, and products. You can create master inspection characteristics at the plant level to simplify and standardize the inspection planning activities and to standardize the nomenclature. This allows you to plan inspections systematically, uniformly, and economically.

Implementation Considerations

You need the Inspection Characteristics component to plan inspections in which you store characteristic-based inspection specifications in the material specifications or inspection plans.

In addition to the inspection plans in the Quality Management (QM) component, you also use the following task list types:

  • Routings (PP)

  • Rate routings (PP)

  • Master recipes (PP-PI)

  • Maintenance task lists (PM)

Integration

Inspection characteristics are used in:

  • Task lists

When you create a task list, you can specify master inspection characteristics and you can also create inspection characteristics in the task list. In a task list, you can reference master inspection characteristics , or include them as complete or incomplete copy models. Only master inspection characteristics support a multiple-language requirement.

  • Material specifications

In material specifications, you can use a master inspection characteristic with or without a reference to a class characteristic from a batch class .

Master inspection characteristics, in turn, can also reference inspection methods and catalogs.

Features

Using the Inspection Characteristics component, you can:

  • Describe the inspection criteria for materials, parts, and products

  • Define the qualifications for inspectors

  • Manage master inspection characteristics as master records independently of a task list, edit the master inspection characteristics centrally, and use the same master record numerous times in different task lists

  • Use master inspection characteristics as copy models in the task lists

  • Reference master inspection characteristics in task lists or material specifications. You can subsequently delete these references if necessary. If you created the master inspection characteristic as a complete copy model, the reference is automatically deleted when the characteristic is included.

Note Note

Every change you make to a master inspection characteristic that is referenced in a task list is also reflected in the task list (provided you make the change without history).

End of the note.

  • Create a where-used list to determine the task lists, material specifications and certificate profiles, in which a master inspection characteristic is used.

Note Note

If you use a master inspection characteristic in a task list, material specification or a certificate profile, the system automatically sets a usage indicator so you cannot inadvertently delete the master inspection characteristic.

End of the note.

  • Search for and replace master inspection characteristics in inspection plans and material specifications (you can only replace referenced master inspection characteristics).

  • Make changes to master inspection characteristics with or without history. You specify the required plant-specific default value for this function in the Customizing application. A version management function ensures that all changes are documented.

  • Create different versions of a master inspection characteristic (for example, with different validity periods)

  • Find the desired version of a master inspection characteristic with different validity periods by specifying the key date

  • Classify master inspection characteristics

  • Assign inspection methods to master inspection characteristics

Note Note

You can assign several inspection methods to a master inspection characteristic; however, you can only assign one inspection method to an inspection characteristic in a task list.

End of the note.

  • Define inspection characteristics as qualitative (for example, "product color") or quantitative characteristics (for example, "material density").

  • Define inspection characteristics as calculated characteristics that is, as quantitative inspection characteristics, whose values are calculated from the inspection results of other characteristics (calculation input characteristics), according to a predefined formula.

  • Create dependencies between different inspection characteristics in an inspection operation for dynamic modification of the inspection scope. Dynamic modification of the dependent characteristic takes place based on the dynamic modification of the leading characteristic.

  • Define an inspection characteristic as a leading characteristic, that is, as a required characteristic, to which conditional characteristics are assigned in the operation of a task list. Conditional characteristics are inspected, depending on the valuation of this leading characteristic.

  • Set control indicators to specify the characteristic attributes

  • Define tolerance keys for quantitative characteristics

  • Use master inspection characteristics for inspection specifications and for the transfer of inspection results to the batch specification (provided you have maintained class characteristics and batch classes)

Constraints

If you want to reference other master records from master inspection characteristics, you must have already created the corresponding master records.