Blog · AutoQC
Write the tolerance down before you inspect anything.
Arguments about quality are often arguments about a number nobody agreed on. We think the tolerance belongs on the spec, per dimension, before the first piece is measured.
When a brand and its manufacturing partner disagree about a piece, the measurement is rarely in dispute. Both sides can read a tape. What they disagree about is whether the measurement is acceptable. That is a question about tolerance, and in many supply relationships the tolerance lives in someone’s head, in an old email, or nowhere.
The number that decides every argument
Take a piece specified at 10.16 cm high. Is 10.3 cm fine? Is 10.9 cm? If the answer depends on who is inspecting that day, you do not have a quality standard. You have a mood. The partner learns that some inspectors are strict and some are not, and the brand learns about problems from returns rather than from inspection.
The fix is unglamorous: write the tolerance down, per dimension, next to the spec, and make every check compare against that written number. Not “roughly right”, not “within reason”, but a plus-or-minus that anyone can read.
Different dimensions deserve different tolerances
A single tolerance for the whole product is usually wrong. Some dimensions affect fit, some affect appearance and some affect compliance. AutoQC treats them differently on purpose:
| Check | Tolerance on the spec | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Length | ± 1 cm | Measured along the top with the tape from the edge |
| Width | ± 1 cm | Measured across the base, tape at zero on the edge |
| Height at the barcode | ± 0.5 cm | Tighter, and measured at a fixed point so readings are comparable |
| MRP label on the pack | Exact match | MRP, model, size and EAN must match the piece and the SKU |
The point is not these particular numbers, which come from the product page’s example. It is that each one is explicit, and that the label check is not a tolerance at all. A printed price either matches or it does not.
A bakery version of the same problem
Imagine a bakery that sells a “1 kg” cake made for it by a partner kitchen. If no one has written down whether 960 g is acceptable, the counter staff will accept it on a busy day and reject it on a quiet one, and the partner will never know what the real standard is. Write “1 kg, minus 0 g, plus 50 g” on the order and weigh each cake against it, and the argument disappears. The label, with its price and allergen line, is checked for an exact match because there is no such thing as a nearly correct label.
Where you measure matters as much as the number
A tolerance only works if everyone measures the same thing in the same way. That is why AutoQC fixes the method as well as the limit: four photos in a locked order, with the tape readable and the barcode in frame, and height taken where the barcode is stitched so both appear in one photo. The capture app guides the photographer in Hindi and English and does not allow a photo to be skipped.
Without a fixed method, two honest people can measure the same piece and get different answers, and the tolerance becomes a negotiation again.
What we would write on every spec
- The nominal value for each dimension that matters to the customer.
- A plus-or-minus for each, chosen by what the dimension affects.
- Exactly where and how it is measured, including the reference point.
- Which checks are exact-match only, such as printed labels.
- What happens out of tolerance: redo, hold, or escalate. Not “use judgement”.
Once that is in place, review becomes simple: a QA reviewer looks at the measurement against the written limit and passes the piece or sends it back with a reason. Our pre-dispatch inspection checklist covers the rest of the inspection, and photo evidence quality inspection explains how the photos are captured. Everything else is on the AutoQC guides page.
Questions
Why should tolerance be written per dimension?
Because different dimensions affect fit, appearance and compliance differently. A single tolerance is either too loose for the critical dimension or too strict for the others.
What tolerances does AutoQC check?
The product page example checks length and width to ± 1 cm, height at the barcode to ± 0.5 cm, and requires an exact match on the MRP label’s MRP, model, size and EAN.
Why fix the measuring method as well as the limit?
Two people measuring from different reference points can get different answers. AutoQC fixes the photo order and requires the tape and barcode in frame so readings are comparable.
See it on your own data. AutoQC — Every piece proves itself. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.