Documentation, Reporting, and Quality Systems
Make the record prove the product
Compile and review documentation as the work proceeds, not at the end. The report set normally includes inspection reports, the signed ITP, material certificates and traceability, welding and NDE records, heat-treatment and test records, calibration certificates, nonconformance reports with dispositions, and the final data book or manufacturing record book. Each entry should identify the item, the specification and revision, the acceptance criteria, the result, the inspector, and the date, and reference the instrument used. Write facts, not opinions: 'weld cap undercut 3 mm, exceeds 1 mm limit' beats 'weld looked poor'.
Quality-system elements to know: document and revision control, records retention, corrective and preventive action, management of change, and the distinction between a nonconformance, a concession or deviation, and a corrective action. Nonconformance dispositions - rework, repair, use-as-is, reject - each need defined authority. A repair needs an approved procedure and re-examination; use-as-is normally needs design and purchaser approval.
Traps: verbal approvals that never reach the record, hold points signed after the fact, superseded drawings in the data book, missing calibration traceability, and reports that omit the acceptance criteria so no one can tell whether the result passed.
Worked example: a radiograph shows a rejectable indication and the supplier proposes 'grind and re-weld'. That is a repair: require a qualified repair procedure, re-radiography of the repaired area, and a documented disposition signed by the authorized person. Rule of thumb: if it is not written, signed, dated, and traceable, it is not evidence.