AQL 2.5 is a common criteria while we talk about shipment inspection and status of the shipment inspection. Garment exporters and apparel buyers used to say AQL 2.5 to define their quality performance. If any company is meeting 2.5 AQL first time, it is considered that the factory's product quality is very good.
What does this AQL 2.5 mean? How many defects and defective pieces in a shipment is allowed if the inspection is done at 2.5 AQL. In this post, this question is answered a simple way.
First thing first - AQL stands for Acceptable Quality Level. The AQL table is developed and used by the American military. We are following that AQL table in garment quality inspection.
Let's look at the AQL chart (shown below). In the table, there is a column named AQL 2.5 (red boxed). So when you are doing shipment inspection at 2.5 AQL level, you need to know your shipment lot size, sample size and follow the 2.5 AQL column.
First thing first - AQL stands for Acceptable Quality Level. The AQL table is developed and used by the American military. We are following that AQL table in garment quality inspection.
Let's look at the AQL chart (shown below). In the table, there is a column named AQL 2.5 (red boxed). So when you are doing shipment inspection at 2.5 AQL level, you need to know your shipment lot size, sample size and follow the 2.5 AQL column.
For example, you have two shipments that your need to inspect following 2.5 AQL. The first shipment is of 100 pieces and the second shipment is of 1330 pieces. As per sampling plan, you will pick 20 garments from first shipment and 125 garments from the second shipment.
Now, look at the shipment acceptance criteria for 2.5 AQL.
For first shipment (100 pieces lot size): Shipment will be accepted if you found 1 or less defective garments. If you get 2 or more than 2 defective garments this shipment will be failed (rejected).
For second shipment (1300 pieces lot size): Shipment will be accepted if you found 7 or less defective garments. If you get 8 or more than 8 defective garments this shipment will be failed (rejected).
For easy access to the AQL 2.5 chart, in the following table, others columns are removed.
Please note sample size for a specific lot size may vary depending on the sampling plan. Read this post for different sampling plan.
Now, look at the shipment acceptance criteria for 2.5 AQL.
For first shipment (100 pieces lot size): Shipment will be accepted if you found 1 or less defective garments. If you get 2 or more than 2 defective garments this shipment will be failed (rejected).
For second shipment (1300 pieces lot size): Shipment will be accepted if you found 7 or less defective garments. If you get 8 or more than 8 defective garments this shipment will be failed (rejected).
For easy access to the AQL 2.5 chart, in the following table, others columns are removed.
Please note sample size for a specific lot size may vary depending on the sampling plan. Read this post for different sampling plan.