What FAT Should Look Like Before Your Machine Ships

Factory acceptance testing is where a custom equipment project either proves itself or postpones its problems to your commissioning week. Yet it's the step most often waved through — especially across borders, where flying in for a witness visit is expensive and "we tested it, trust us" is free.

It doesn't need to be that way. Remote video acceptance has been workable for years. Here's what a real FAT covers, and what to demand from any supplier.

What FAT actually is

FAT is the machine being run against the criteria you agreed, before shipment — not a demonstration. The distinction matters: a demonstration shows the machine doing something impressive; an acceptance test checks the specific things you're paying for, in the presence of your criteria, with the results recorded.

What a real FAT covers

• Functional run — The machine executing its real cycle with real or representative material — not an empty idle run.
• Spec checks — The measurable items from your requirement: speed, dimensions, output quality — each shown against its target value.
• Safety checks — Emergency stops, interlocks, and protective behavior demonstrated, not described.
• Continuous run — A sustained run long enough to catch thermal drift and intermittent faults — the length agreed in advance, not chosen at the moment.
• Documentation review — Schematics, I/O lists, manuals, and labels shown on camera — the paperwork is part of the machine.

Remote video acceptance, done properly

A credible remote FAT is not one highlight clip. It is:

• Live or unedited. Live stream with you able to request angles and repeats, or a continuous unedited recording covering the full protocol.
• Against your criteria. The test sheet is agreed before the run — same items, same order, same pass criteria.
• Witness points you name. You can ask for specific shots: the display reading, the e-stop behavior, the label on the panel.
• Recorded and archived. The video becomes part of the project record — useful at commissioning, invaluable in a dispute.

A supplier who runs the machine for you on camera before shipment is confident in what it will show. That confidence — not the video itself — is what you're actually buying.

How we run it

Every machine we build is functionally run before it ships — including high-voltage units, which go through bench testing with metering on the bench (you'll see this in the photographs across this site). For overseas clients, video acceptance is standard practice: your criteria, our bench, a continuous recording, archived with the project file. If you'd rather witness live, the session is scheduled and you direct the camera.