This buyer guide helps you evaluate acceptance criteria for register, speed, and scrap before committing capital to flexible packaging equipment. It focuses on scope, contract clarity, and acceptance discipline—not sales language.
Who this guide is for
Quality managers and project engineers defining FAT, SAT, and sign-off criteria with vendors.
Acceptance criteria belong in the purchase order or technical schedule attachment—not in emails after mechanical build is advanced. Register, speed, and scrap are the three metrics most export packaging orders argue about at FAT and SAT because they were never defined with measurement method, duration, and material conditions. Precise criteria protect buyers from vague promises and protect vendors from moving goalposts.
Register acceptance should state color-to-color or mark-to-mark tolerance in measurable units, instrument used, substrate type, speed, and whether evaluation occurs after steady-state warmup minutes. CI flexo and gravure lines need different band logic than bag seal registration—copying generic template language from unrelated equipment categories produces unenforceable clauses.
Key decisions before you sign
Speed acceptance should define minimum sustained production speed for a agreed time window—commonly thirty to sixty minutes at target web speed without fault trip—on specified material and ink or adhesive system. Peak instantaneous speed is irrelevant if register or coat weight drifts outside band during the window. Include rules for splice and ramp events if production reality requires them.
Scrap acceptance is often neglected until SAT ramp when finance sees waste percentages that operators attribute to learning curve while management attributes to machine defect. Define whether scrap metrics apply during FAT witness only, during SAT ramp over agreed days, or after operator certification. State if waste includes makeready material or only running waste after first good meter.
FAT proves the machine at the factory; SAT proves it in your hall with your utilities and operators. Blending the two without written criteria invites argument.
Acceptance metrics should include register band, print density or coat weight, waste during ramp, and changeover time on agreed job families.
Buyer checklist
- Attach acceptance criteria to the purchase order or technical schedule.
- Define retest rules if FAT fails and who pays for re-witness.
- Record photos, torque sheets, and HMI recipe backups at sign-off.
- Separate FAT scope from SAT scope to avoid disputes after shipment.
Quotation, contract, and acceptance points
Changeover time can be a fourth metric for short-run buyers: maximum minutes to complete agreed plate, anilox, or size change sequence with register recovery verified on a defined job. Without timing criteria, optional quick-change modules cannot be judged at acceptance.
Retest and failure rules complete the register: how many attempts, who pays re-witness travel, whether partial shipment is allowed if one module fails integrated line test, and how open punch-list items affect payment milestones. Criteria without failure logic invite relationship damage under schedule pressure.
Yaoshg quotations reference buyer-supplied acceptance tables when provided at technical review—speed, register, and waste bands tied to named substrate samples. Buyers who invest in measurable criteria before committee approval typically face shorter punch-list cycles and clearer warranty conversations because performance expectations were shared when scope was still flexible.
Define who owns rework if FAT fails: part replacement, re-witness travel, and schedule impact. Clarity here prevents relationship damage later.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
Signing FAT under pressure with open punch-list items often becomes permanent tolerance of defects. Document exceptions with dates and owners.
Yaoshg sales and application teams can review your substrate list, layout sketch, and quotation scope before you finalize internal approval. Sharing structured questions early typically shortens FAT scheduling and reduces open items at SAT.