22 Quality Practices & Inspection Practice Questions & Answers

1. 1. A quality management system is best described as ___.

   • A.the group of inspectors employed by the quality control department
   • B.the documented procedures and records a plant uses to control quality✓ Answer
   • C.the set of gauges and instruments stored in the calibration lab
   • D.the final inspection station placed at the end of the main production line

   A quality management system is the structure of documented policies, procedures, work instructions and records that directs how work is done and provides evidence that it was done correctly. It is not a department, an inspection station or a set of tools.

   Source: MSSC Certified Production Technician Production Standards, Quality Practices and Measurement — quality management system documentationReport a problem with this question

2. 2. An audit performed by an independent registrar so the plant can be certified to a recognized quality standard is a ___.

   • A.management review
   • B.first-party audit
   • C.second-party audit
   • D.third-party audit✓ Answer

   A third-party audit is performed by an independent registrar with no stake in the plant, and that independence is what allows the result to support certification. A first-party audit is the organization auditing itself and a second-party audit is a customer auditing its supplier.

   Source: MSSC CPT Production Standards, internal quality audit participation; International Organization for Standardization quality management vocabulary for first-, second- and third-party auditsReport a problem with this question

3. 3. During an internal quality audit, the auditor's job is to verify that ___.

   • A.the work is being done the way the written procedure says✓ Answer
   • B.the operators are following their supervisor's verbal orders
   • C.each operator is working fast enough to meet the daily quota
   • D.the product design meets what the marketing department promised

   An audit compares what actually happens on the floor with what the documented system requires and collects objective evidence of conformance. It evaluates the process and the system, not an individual's speed or personal performance.

   Source: MSSC CPT Production Standards, participate in internal quality audit activities — objective evidence of conformanceReport a problem with this question

4. 4. The next workstation that receives your parts is best thought of as ___.

   • A.your external customer
   • B.your final inspector
   • C.your internal customer✓ Answer
   • D.your process supplier

   Anyone inside the plant who receives your output — the next operation, assembly, packing — is an internal customer, and passing them a defect has the same effect as shipping one. The external customer is the buyer outside the company.

   Source: MSSC CPT Production Standards, Quality Practices — internal and external customer conceptReport a problem with this question

5. 5. In the cost of quality, which category normally costs a manufacturer the least?

   • A.appraisal, such as incoming and final inspection
   • B.internal failure, such as scrap, rework and re-test
   • C.external failure, such as returns and warranty claims
   • D.prevention, such as training and error-proofing✓ Answer

   Prevention money — training, capable process design, error-proofing — stops defects from being created at all, so it buys the most quality for the least outlay. Costs climb sharply through appraisal, then internal failure, and are highest when the defect reaches the customer.

   Source: Standard cost-of-quality model (prevention, appraisal, internal failure, external failure) as taught in MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

6. 6. Why does relying on final inspection alone fail to build quality into a product?

   • A.the defect has already been made and paid for by then✓ Answer
   • B.final inspection always misses more defects than it finds
   • C.the customer is the only party allowed to judge quality
   • D.inspectors are not trained to use precision measuring tools

   Inspection is a detection activity: it sorts good from bad only after the material, machine time and labor have been spent, so the loss is already fixed by the time the check happens. Quality is built in by controlling the process that makes the part.

   Source: MSSC CPT Quality Practices — prevention versus detection; Deming's teaching to cease dependence on mass inspectionReport a problem with this question

7. 7. The purpose of a control chart is to ___.

   • A.show the shape of the distribution of a set of measurements
   • B.rank the defect types in order from most frequent to least
   • C.show how a process behaves over time and signal unusual changes✓ Answer
   • D.compare the finished part against the customer's drawing tolerance

   A control chart plots a statistic from the process in time order against a center line and control limits so the operator can see whether the process is behaving as it normally does or something has changed. Ranking defect types is a Pareto chart and showing distribution shape is a histogram.

   Source: MSSC CPT Production Standards, record process outcomes and trends — purpose of a control chartReport a problem with this question

8. 8. Small, random variation that is always present in a stable process is called ___.

   • A.out-of-control variation
   • B.assignable cause variation
   • C.common cause variation✓ Answer
   • D.special cause variation

   Common cause variation comes from the many small influences built into the process itself, and while only it is present the process is in control; reducing it normally takes a management or engineering change rather than an operator adjustment. Special or assignable causes are unusual events that can be traced and removed.

   Source: Statistical process control principle of common cause versus special cause variation; MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

9. 9. A single point falls outside the upper control limit on the operator's chart. What should the operator do first?

   • A.erase the point and plot the next reading instead
   • B.find out what changed in the process at that time✓ Answer
   • C.widen the control limits until the point falls inside
   • D.adjust the machine setting by the size of the miss

   A point beyond a control limit is an out-of-control signal pointing to a special, assignable cause, so the first step is to find what changed — material, setup, tooling, operator or the measurement itself. Limits are calculated from the process and are never widened to make a signal disappear, and re-setting the machine after one reading only adds variation.

   Source: SPC out-of-control rule that a point beyond a control limit signals an assignable cause; MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

10. 10. On a control chart, a long run of consecutive points on one side of the center line means ___.

    • A.the center line of the chart was drawn in the wrong place
    • B.the process is running much better than it normally does
    • C.the process has probably shifted and needs investigation✓ Answer
    • D.the points on that side must be discarded as errors

    Points from a stable process should fall randomly on both sides of the center line, so a long one-sided run says the process average has moved even though no single point crossed a limit. It is treated as an out-of-control signal and the cause is investigated.

    Source: Control chart run rules for nonrandom patterns; MSSC CPT record process outcomes and trendsReport a problem with this question

11. 11. How do control limits differ from specification limits?

    • A.control limits come from the drawing, specifications from the chart
    • B.control limits are always set wider than the specification limits
    • C.control limits come from process data, specifications from the customer✓ Answer
    • D.the two are simply different names for the same pair of limits

    Control limits are calculated from how the process actually performs, normally at three sigma from its own average, while specification limits are the requirement set by the customer or the engineering drawing. Because they come from different places, specification limits are never drawn on a control chart in place of control limits.

    Source: SPC principle distinguishing calculated control limits from customer specification limits; MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

12. 12. A process is in statistical control but still makes parts outside the print tolerance. This means ___.

    • A.the process is out of control and must be stopped now
    • B.the control chart limits were calculated incorrectly
    • C.the process is stable but not capable of holding tolerance✓ Answer
    • D.the operator must adjust the machine after every bad part made

    Statistical control only means the process is consistent and predictable; capability compares that consistent spread with the tolerance. A stable process whose spread is too wide, or that sits off center, needs an engineering or management change, not repeated operator adjustment.

    Source: Process capability principle that statistical control does not guarantee capability; MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

13. 13. What risk does the plant accept when it inspects a sample instead of every piece?

    • A.sampled parts must be scrapped after being measured
    • B.some nonconforming pieces may be accepted along with the lot✓ Answer
    • C.sampling works only on attribute data, never on measurements
    • D.the inspection takes longer than checking every piece

    A sampling plan accepts or rejects a whole lot from a portion of it, so there is always a chance that a lot containing defects is accepted, or that a good lot is rejected. Sampling works on both attribute and variable data, and even 100 percent inspection is not perfect because inspector fatigue and error let defects through.

    Source: Acceptance sampling principle of lot acceptance risk; MSSC CPT inspection contentReport a problem with this question

14. 14. A first-article inspection is performed ___.

    • A.on the first piece that an inspector finds to be defective
    • B.on the first piece pulled from the lot at final inspection
    • C.on the first piece packed into the customer's very first shipment
    • D.on the first piece made after a setup, before the run continues✓ Answer

    First-article inspection proves that the setup, tooling and program actually produce a conforming part before the machine is released to run the lot, so a bad setup costs one piece instead of hundreds.

    Source: MSSC CPT Production Standards, inspect materials and product at all stages — first-article inspection after setupReport a problem with this question

15. 15. The main advantage of in-process inspection over inspecting only at the end is that ___.

    • A.it removes the need to inspect the finished product
    • B.it replaces the control chart kept at the machine
    • C.a problem is caught before many more parts are made wrong✓ Answer
    • D.it lets the operator loosen the tolerance on the print

    Checking while the job is running limits how many pieces can be produced before a drift or a tool problem is found, so scrap and rework are held to the few parts made since the last check. It supplements other inspection points rather than replacing them.

    Source: MSSC CPT Production Standards, in-process inspection versus final inspectionReport a problem with this question

16. 16. An operator keeps asking why a defect happened until the underlying cause is reached. This technique is ___.

    • A.brainstorming
    • B.a check sheet
    • C.the five whys✓ Answer
    • D.benchmarking

    The five whys pushes past the first visible symptom by asking why the previous answer happened, until a cause is reached that, if corrected, stops the problem from returning. Brainstorming only generates ideas and a check sheet only tallies how often something occurs.

    Source: Root cause analysis practice of the five whys; MSSC CPT corrective action contentReport a problem with this question

17. 17. A cause-and-effect (fishbone) diagram is used to ___.

    • A.record how often each defect happens during a shift
    • B.organize the possible causes of a problem into categories✓ Answer
    • C.prove which one cause is responsible for the problem
    • D.track a measured value over time against its limits

    The fishbone sorts candidate causes under headings such as people, machine, method, material, measurement and environment so that nothing is overlooked. It organizes ideas but does not by itself prove which cause is acting; that takes data from the process.

    Source: Ishikawa cause-and-effect diagram, one of the seven basic quality tools; MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

18. 18. After a defect escapes, the team sorts and holds all suspect stock in the warehouse. This step is ___.

    • A.a containment action✓ Answer
    • B.a root cause analysis
    • C.a preventive action
    • D.a corrective action

    Containment isolates suspect product so the customer is protected while the investigation continues, but it changes nothing in the process, so the defect will keep occurring until a corrective action removes the root cause.

    Source: Corrective action process in which containment protects the customer while root cause analysis proceeds; MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

19. 19. Reworking the bad parts and then changing the fixture that let them be loaded wrong are, in order, ___.

    • A.a corrective action and a correction
    • B.a containment action and a preventive action
    • C.a preventive action and a correction
    • D.a correction and a corrective action✓ Answer

    Repairing the parts already made is a correction: it deals only with the symptom on that product. Changing the fixture removes the reason the mistake could happen, which is a corrective action; a preventive action would address a problem that has not occurred yet.

    Source: Quality management distinction among correction, corrective action and preventive action; MSSC CPT corrective action contentReport a problem with this question

20. 20. An operator finds a bin of parts that do not meet the print. What must happen to those parts?

    • A.they are tagged and moved to a marked hold area✓ Answer
    • B.they are set aside at the machine until the shift ends
    • C.they are mixed back in so the lot count stays correct
    • D.they are scrapped at once by the operator who found them

    Nonconforming product must be identified, tagged and physically segregated so it cannot be used or shipped by mistake. Only the material review authority decides the disposition: use as is, rework, repair, scrap or return to the supplier.

    Source: Control of nonconforming product: identification, segregation and material review disposition; MSSC CPT Quality PracticesReport a problem with this question

21. 21. A completed inspection record carries the lot number, date, part number and gauge used mainly so that ___.

    • A.the quality department can rank operators by defect rate
    • B.the results can be traced back to specific parts and equipment✓ Answer
    • C.the operator can prove he worked his full shift that day
    • D.the record can be discarded as soon as the lot ships

    Traceability links the record to the exact product, material, equipment and drawing revision involved, so if a problem shows up later the affected lots can be identified and contained. Quality records are kept for the retention period set by company, customer or regulatory requirement rather than destroyed at shipment.

    Source: Quality records and traceability requirements, including retention periods; MSSC CPT document the results of quality testsReport a problem with this question

22. 22. Midway through a run, an operator sees coolant dripping onto finished parts. What should the operator do?

    • A.repair the leaking line before the next part is made
    • B.stop the affected work and notify the supervisor✓ Answer
    • C.wipe the parts off and continue running the order
    • D.keep running and mention it at the end of the shift

    A contamination problem the operator cannot correct within his own authority is reported to the supervisor at once, and work on affected product stops so that a large quantity of suspect parts is not created. Repairing plant equipment is done by qualified maintenance personnel, not by the operator alone.

    Source: MSSC CPT Production Standards, communicate quality problems — notify the supervisor and stop affected productionReport a problem with this question

Practice questions based on the MSSC Production Standards and the published content of the Certified Production Technician modules, together with federal OSHA general-industry requirements and standard manufacturing practice. MSSC and CPT are marks of the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council; this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by MSSC. Questions here never depend on recalling a regulatory limit, a citation number or a machine specification — always follow your own facility's written programs and the manufacturer's documentation for the equipment you run, and confirm current requirements before testing. About the CPT certification →