Preparation of Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) example

( SS Tank being fabricated for chemical storage :Supportive document used is QAP. Location: Ahmednagar . Photo from our own colection )

Today I am going to show you straightaway actual QAP Preparation . Get just relaxed ..no big stuff , no too much technical or heavy words. Just go on reading in simple language.

 This QAP was prepared by me way back in 2015. This template can be used for many other streams professionals. And it is useful for each and every quality person and more to novice persons in this field.

Before delve into the subject, first I would like to clarify the background. 

The end product of boiler at any place is mostly  superheated Steam (Steam with extremely high temperature and pressure.) Such a steam is used to do useful  work (means to run various machines/equipment's in factories. This is case of sugar factory. Pipes used to carry such steam has to protected by some kind of insulation. This is needed as it will prevent heat losses, thereby resulting in more work done. 

Generally such piping of large diameters is carried out at 'heavy fabrication shop' under the supervision and approval of government agency which makes any  Boiler (in India working above specific pressure) mandatory points. (IBR). 

Such a shops are equipped with modern welders and IBR qualified welding operators.

Yes , they make pipes of specific grade of steel e.g  ASTM P11. SA106..

Ok now pipes are ready. But now they need insulation. So now third party will carry out insulation work directly at site, in this case sugar factory. But now sugar factory and its fabrication supplier wants to know how insulation work will be done with quality work. 

Here comes our role. I prepared QA plan for that party and which is now became standard document of that company.

Though it is not too difficult to prepare a QAP , one needs to have full technical knowledge of the subject. If you feel you don't have enough knowledge take help of associates or company persons with actual practical knowledge.

How I Prepared this  QAP?

Step I ]
Breaking whole operation of insulation work into number of steps. Each step is endpoint of one of the process, that can be visually inspected with or without help of measuring aids / Instruments.

Step II ]

Knowing exactly what End Customer expects ? and at what point does role of another involved party (in this case, Heavy Fabrication company) ceases ..
Remember this is a very crucial stage of decision. If both parties do not have clear scope of picture defined , it may lead to confusion. In this example , I had asked Fabrication company, after you finish pipe making, will you clean it thoroughly .Here cleaning means, removal of burr, spatters, oil stains on the pipe outside wall. Fabrication company had said no, its not in our scope. I confirmed that from Insulation party. After their acceptance , I added first point of ' Preparation of surface to be insulated.' 

Had Fabrication company said yes we would give finished pipes, than what would be first point in QAP ? Guess.. 

Yes The first point would be related to verification of inspection report from Fabrication company and visual checking for spatters, burrs, oil stains etc and I would have included it in incoming material inspection.

Step III ]

Decision of critical parameters while making insulation. All decisive parameters need to divided into three major categories as Critical , Major and Minor. I done it.

How to check severity of problems to divide them among Critical ,Major and Minor classes?

Let consider following sample a small example.

On one machine EN24 material is supposed to finish upto general or common finish ( means surface finish in not much precise.)

• Raw material Inspection :- Critical ( What happens if material is of grade EN8 ?.. Though       dimensionally ok this job is going to create ' fuss' ..or uproar which is not tolerable.)
• Machining operation      :- Major    ( What if Job dimensions not ok ? Surely it will get rejected.)
• Surface Finish : No major concern if finish is not precise.

       Above example illustrates how to make categories depending on the customer requirement.                              

Step IV ]

In order to assure quality in services / or products we serve, there should be predefined and validated procedure of actual job. So I made SOP or Procedure of that particular act.  This step is necessary to assure the quality product is being made. Procedure making is a skill dependent step. You have to take into account local parameters too while drafting it.

Step V ]

Many Organisation provide or communicate hold points for carrying inspection. If they have not given any such hold points, one should discuss it and final it. Sugar Factory told me hold points on enquiry. Also I requested Fabrication company which points they want to inspect after or during insulation process. Accordingly  I fixed hold points and joint or individual inspection points.

I have written in short, just to brief novice quality persons. If anyone has some query , you may ask it.

Here I have attached one more QAP for your reference. This QAP was made in 2015 and it has also become standard document for Insulation party. Please note the difference between Field work and Non field work.

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