AQL Inspection Standards for Bag Manufacturing Explained

What AQL means in practice

AQL (Acceptable Quality Limit) defines how many defects are tolerated in a sampled lot. Most bag programmes run AQL 2.5 for major defects and AQL 0 for critical defects.

Defect classification

• Critical — safety issues, sharp hardware, banned substances. Zero tolerance.
• Major — broken stitching, non-functional zippers, wrong dimensions.
• Minor — cosmetic marks, loose threads, minor colour variation.

Always inspect before shipment

Final random inspection should happen at the factory, after packing, on a finished carton sample. Once the container has shipped, your leverage drops to zero.