FAI package handoff checklist between engineering and quality

Audience: Engineers, quality leads, and NPI teams handling first article kickoff and release.

Engineering handoff requirements

• Current drawing revision with release status and effective date.
• Balloon-ready file set and defined characteristic numbering convention.
• List of critical and key characteristics with rationale.
• Any customer-specific acceptance notes or quality clauses.
• Special process or material cert requirements tied to form outputs.

Quality intake checklist

1. Confirm part number and drawing revision align across all package documents.
2. Validate each characteristic can be measured with available methods.
3. Map each characteristic to output fields needed in the final report.
4. Escalate ambiguous callouts before inspection execution starts.
5. Capture release blockers and ownership in one shared issue log.

Signals your handoff is not ready

• Open questions on dimension intent remain unresolved at kickoff.
• Characteristic numbers change after data collection begins.
• Report template differs by inspector or program owner.
• Required cert references are missing from the package.

Handoff gate recommendation

Add a simple gate: no inspection execution until engineering and quality both sign the intake checklist. This one control removes most of the rework cycle caused by missing package context.