UNDERSTANDING APPAREL

QUALITY

ACCEPTANCE QUALITY LIMIT

ASSIGNMENT 2

SUBMITTED TO: Mr. Sumit Kumar

SUBMITTED BY: Arushi Singh(BFT/21/466)
 WHAT IS AQL?
‘AQL ‘stands for ‘Acceptance Quality Limit ‘, and is a method
used by many businesses to check a random sample from the
production batch of their products and confirm that the risk
of bad quality is relatively low.

More recently, the term AQL has been renamed from

"acceptable quality level" to "acceptable quality limit".
AQL is one of the most used terms in the apparel industry
when it comes into consideration to quality garment
inspection. AQL refers to the maximum number of defective
items that could be considered to accept during the random
sampling of pre-shipment inspection. To reduce risk before
accepting a shipment, AQL sampling is a practical and
effective approach to undertake quality assurance on an
order of produced items. The AQL level varies from one process to
the next, from one product to product, and even from one buyer to
buyer. The Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) is the maximum amount of
defective goods that can be accepted during random sampling and
inspection.
For example: “AQL is 1.5%” means “I want no more than
1.5% defective items in the whole order quantity, on average
over several production runs with that supplier, and I accept
a certain amount of risk that I make the wrong decision
based on the imperfect information coming from checking
only a sample of the whole batch”.

AQL Defect Categories :

The failure to meet the
requirements of customers
with respect to quality is
termed as defects. The three
categories of defects are:
 Critical Defects
 Major Defects
 Minor Defects
  Critical Defects - If accepted, this type of defect could
potentially harm or injury the customer. These defects
are completely unacceptable. The industry standard for
AQL for critical defects is 0%.
 Major Defects - Not acceptable to the customers. Usage
of the product will most likely result in failure. The
industry average for AQL for major defects is 2.5%.
 Minor Defects - Not likely to reduce the usability and
material of the product for its intended purpose, but
slightly altered from the intended design and
specifications. The industry average AQL for minor
defects is 4%.
As long as sampled defective pieces remain within the AQL
range, the incoming lot of materials will not be rejected. If
the number of rejections is higher than the set AQL, the
entire batch will be rejected.
 Why
‍ Is AQL
Important in
Quality
Inspections?

 When conducting sampling inspections, AQL is

a crucial tool that inspection teams can use to
guarantee that the number of units inspected
in a given sample is accurate and that the
number of defective units that could lead to a
failure result is recorded. The quantity of
rejected units and the necessary sample size
are determined by the AQL Standard.
 Inspecting a large number of units at once can
be too difficult for manufacturers and
therefore, incorporating a method such as
AQL 2.5 can be extremely helpful for
businesses.
 Hence, AQL is a preferable method when you
need to efficiently check whether the
 products in the batch are up to the defined
quality standard. However, if you are only
purchasing products in small volumes, your
business may have the resources to test
everything at once. But as quantities rise,
piece by piece inspections can become harder
to manage due to time restraints and costs.
 AQL 2.5 is a robust, useful model that has
successfully been used over many years.
However, it is important to note AQL
inspections do not guarantee a defect-free
experience, as minor defects may go
undetected. But AQL allows you to select the
percentage of defects that you are willing to
accept/risk and it’s a secure option when it
comes to gaining valuable insight into your
supply chain, your products and your
business.
 After completing an AQL Inspection, the
agency will issue a shipment certificate and
this will clarify whether you passed or failed.
The inspector will conduct a pre-shipment
inspection before production commences and
 issue the pre-shipment report, this will be
attached to your documents when shipping.

HOW AQL IS USED IN THE

FINAL RANDOM
INSPECTION?

There are three general AQL inspection levels: “Level I”,

“Level II” and “Level III”. Each indicate sample sizes for a non-
destructive inspection.
The inspector generally inspects the entire sample size for
quality issues related to performance, function and visual
appearance. Any quality defects found during inspection
contribute to the overall “pass” or “fail” result.
You can find Level I, Level II and Level III sample sizes for your
lot size in the AQL table. This first part of the AQL table helps
to determine the AQL inspection level and sample size.
Higher inspection levels generally correspond to larger
sample sizes, with Level II being the highest.
For example, let’s consider a lot size of 5,000 pieces,
represented in the table below within the range 3,201 to
10,000. The three inspection levels each result in a different
sample size, denoted by a different letter— “J”, “L” and “M”
in this case.
These letters correspond to three different sample sizes—80,
200 and 315 pieces, respectively, as shown in the second part
of the AQL chart below.
If working with a third-party inspection company, they can
likely offer a few different options for inspection based on
these general inspection levels.

LEVEL I Inspection:
Of the three general inspection levels, the GI inspection level
gives the fewest sample quantities. Level I is regarded as the
"budget alternative," so if time or money are very scarce, it
might be your best choice.
Level I may be adequate in cases where:
 Due to your tight financial restrictions, sending an
inspector to conduct an inspection for more than one
day is not an option.
  Items are inexpensive or present only minor safety risks,
such as promotional items.
 Suppliers have a proven track record of satisfying your
needs and a robust quality management system based
on ISO 9001.

Let's say you select the Level I sample size of J, or 80

pieces, using the 5,000-piece lot size mentioned above.
Also, the number of flaws you can accept in your order
is influenced by the sample size.
To determine accept and reject points, first set your
acceptable quality levels for each defect type Just as
the tolerance for defects can vary by the severity of
each defect, so too should your acceptable quality level
for each.

Many importers set acceptable quality levels of 4 or

lower for “minor” defects for consumer goods. You
might similarly choose an AQL of 2.5 for “major” and 0
for “critical” defects, indicating a lower tolerance for
these more severe defects.

Let’s say you choose an AQL of 2.5 for major defects in

our current example. You would then have an accept
point of 5 defects and a reject point of 6 defects in the
inspected sample of 80 pieces.
You can raise or lower your acceptable quality levels based on
your tolerance for quality defects. Remember, the higher
your acceptable quality level, the higher your tolerance for
quality defects in your order.

LEVEL II Inspection:
Inspection companies sometimes refer to the GII AQL
inspection level as a “normal” sample size. Level II is the
inspection level importers most often choose, as Level II
achieves wider coverage scope with relatively low cost.
Level II inspection level is often especially fitting for the first
inspection of a lot. Seeing these first results can help you
determine if Level II is still suitable going forward, or if you
should raise or lower your inspection level.
Now let’s look at how a Level II sample size of L, or 200
pieces, would influence the accept and reject points for your
order of 5,000 pieces.
The accept and reject points generally increase with the
sample size, assuming your acceptable quality levels stay the
same. So, with an AQL of 2.5, your accept point increases to
10 defects, and your reject point increases to 11 defects.

LEVEL III Inspection:

Of the three AQL inspection levels, the Level III inspection

offers the biggest sample size for your lot. The Level III
sample size is roughly four times as big—315 pieces—as
compared to the Level I sample size, which is 80 units for a
5,000-piece lot size.
With acceptance sampling, this general inspection level
provides the broadest coverage and greatest assurance of
order status and quality. Level III reduces the chance of
accidentally accepting a cargo that has more damaged items
than were discovered during inspection.
A Level III sample size of 315 pieces, using your 5,000-piece
lot size as an example, would result in an accept point of 14
flaws and a reject point of 15 defects.

A Level III AQL inspection level with a cut point of 15 faults

might be used.
  Your supplier has a history of poor quality
 This is your first order with a supplier
 This is the first order of a newly developed product ; or
 The product is of particularly high value (e.g., luxury
goods) or poses particularly high risk (e.g., medical
devices)

Some importers might find this inspection level cost

prohibitive, as it will take the inspector more time to check
more goods.

Conclusion
To reduce risk before accepting a shipment, AQL sampling is
a practical and effective approach to undertake quality
assurance on an order of produced items. Now we can
understand why AQL sampling is an important part of most
product inspections performed by QC professionals. We are
familiar with the various components of AQL tables and how
to use the AQL table for sampling. AQL is an important and
simple tool that allows organizations to notify of how
thorough they want their quality control inspections to be.
If we choose a high level of quality control (100% inspection,
keep in mind that the factory we work with must adhere to
your standards. It is also crucial to remember that large-scale
inspections are frequently expensive, unneeded, and time-
consuming.