Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) in Garment Industry

Acceptable quality level (AQL)

Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) | Definition of AQL | AQL System | AQL Chart

What is AQL?

The term AQL stands for acceptable quality level or acceptance quality level. It is one of the most used terms in the readymade garments industry when it comes into consideration to quality. It should be noted here that, most of the acceptance decisions of garment export order shipments are made based on AQL based sampling plans. To ensure the right quality products, an AQL chart has to follow during an inspection of apparel which varies from product to product, process to process, and even buyer to buyer. Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) has great importance in the ready-made apparel business.

Acceptable quality level (AQL)
Fig: Acceptable quality level (AQL)

Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) refers to the maximum number of defective items that could be considered acceptable during the random sampling of and inspection. It is expressed in a percentage (%) number of average defective items where the average defective item is the multiple results of the total number of defective items found during the inspection and the total number of items inspected.

The faults or defects which are found during the inspection are mainly classified into four categories:

  1. Critical: Must be 100% accurate. There is no range.
  2. Major: Normally 2.5%
  3. Minor: Normally 4%
  4. Slight: Normally 6.5%

Types of AQL System Followed in Apparel Industry:

There are a total of six types of AQL system followed in the garment manufacturing industry which are pointed out below:

  1. AQL-1.0%,
  2. AQL-1.5%,
  3. AQL-2.5%,
  4. AQL-4.0%,
  5. AQL-6.5%,
  6. AQL-10%.

AQL Chart for Garment Industry:

An acceptable quality level (AQL) chart has been presented below to facilitate the easy understanding of the above discussion.

Lot or Batch Size
Sample Size Code Letter
Sample Size
Acceptable Quality Level (AQL)
2.5%
4.0%
6.5%
Ac
Re
Ac
Re
Ac
Re
2-8
A
2
0
1
0
1
0
1
9-15
B
3
0
1
0
1
0
1
16-25
C
5
0
1
0
1
0
1
26-50
D
8
0
1
1
2
1
2
51-90
E
13
1
2
1
2
2
3
91-150
F
20
1
2
2
3
3
4
151-280
G
32
2
3
3
4
5
6
281-500
H
50
3
4
5
6
7
8
501-1200
J
80
5
6
7
8
10
11
1201-3200
K
125
7
8
10
11
14
15
3201-10000
L
200
10
11
14
15
21
22
10001-35000
M
315
14
15
21
22
21
22
350001-150000
N
500
16
18
23
25
23
25
150001-500000
O
800
18
20
25
28
25
27
500000 and over
P
1250
20
22
28
30
28
30

-Written by

Mayedul Islam
Merchandiser at Fashion Xpress Buying House.
Badda, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Email: mayedul.islam66@gmail.com

4 thoughts on “Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) in Garment Industry

  1. Could you please explain about 4 points system and what other parameters for Running length fabrics.

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