A product needs to be tested and proven for its quality and compliance requirements before it reaches the factory to the consumer. With the increasing complexity of the equipment being manufactured as per consumer demand, there is a chance for countless errors. So, factory acceptance test is done to check and ensure that equipment is working properly according to its given specifications and user requirements. In this article, we are going to learn what is FAT test and why it is performed definitions, etc.

What is the FAT or Factory Acceptance Test?

Factory acceptance test or FAT is a test performed by the vendor for newly manufactured equipment at the manufacturing site before shipping to ensure equipment meets its specifications given by the client and works without any errors.

The FAT test is very important, and most organizations ask for this. This FAT is important as it identifies any errors in the equipment at the site itself so that these errors can be rectified before reaching the user.

Who should Participate in Factory acceptance test?

For conducting this factory acceptance test the owner of the equipment, manufacturing engineers and  third party persons like equipment designers are required. Factory acceptance test is performed by sending the plan of the test to user in advance and the test is conducted after his approval.

Some important checkpoints during factory acceptance test includes 

• Scope of the test
• Test requirements
• Testing equipments
• SOP’s
• User requirement specifications
• All Controls verified.
•  Welding verified.
• Overall dimensions verification
• Documentation verification etc

Factory acceptance test ensures the equipment is designed and manufactured as per the user requirements specifications and this will help and identify issues, which can be rectified at the site itself . It improves and acts as an important quality control check.