Quality and inspection in assembly

Assembly is often described as the ‘moment of truth’ for products, when finally complete subassemblies, and then the full assembly, can be tested. But it is also recognized that assembly is where previous defects may be ‘buried and hidden’ not to be discovered until much later. By emphasizing ‘quality at the source’ — essentially at every step of the production in — the potential for hidden defects decreases, and the need for the correction of errors by costly repair and rework at later stages diminishes. But inspection during assembly is becoming more necessary because most tests for functionality are still possible only during and after an assembly is built.