Manufacturing: first article inspection and nonconformance on contract work (US examples)
For quality inspectors, quality technicians, production leads and planners in manufacturers who supply parts under customer contracts that call for first article inspection or approval, including US government and aerospace work. Complete 'Changeovers and first-article checks' and 'Controlling nonconforming material' first: they cover first-off checks at changeover and holding, tagging and recording nonconforming parts. This course goes deeper: recognising when a full first article inspection or approval is required, building a record that accounts for every requirement, classifying nonconformances as critical, major or minor, routing them to the people authorised to decide, and what can happen to production before and after approval. Examples use US federal sources (the Federal Acquisition Regulation and 14 CFR 21.137). Your contract, your customer's quality clauses and your own procedures govern; industry FAI standards your customer may specify (for example in aerospace) are licensed documents your quality team holds. This is not legal or contract advice and does not certify you as an inspector.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 94 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify when a full first article inspection or first article approval is required
- Build a first article inspection record that accounts for every requirement against current design data
- Classify a nonconformance as critical, major or minor using the FAR definitions
- Route a nonconformance to the people authorised to decide its disposition
- Decide what may happen to production before and after first article approval, conditional approval or disapproval
Course outline
- 1.Identifying when a full first article inspection or approval is requiredLesson · 16 min
- 2.Building a first article inspection record against current design dataLesson · 22 min
- 3.Classifying a nonconformance as critical, major or minorLesson · 16 min
- 4.Routing a nonconformance to the people authorised to decide its dispositionLesson · 20 min
- 5.Deciding what may happen to production before and after first article approvalLesson · 12 min
- 6.Manufacturing: first article inspection and nonconformance on contract work (US examples): knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Manufacturing: first article inspection and nonconformance on contract work (US examples): practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- FAR Subpart 9.3 First Article Testing and Approval (Acquisition.gov)
- FAR 52.209-3 First Article Approval - Contractor Testing (Acquisition.gov)
- FAR 46.101 Definitions (critical, major and minor nonconformance) (Acquisition.gov)
- FAR 46.407 Nonconforming supplies or services (Acquisition.gov)
- 14 CFR 21.137 Quality system, via Cornell LII
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.