Factory Acceptance Test Example: What a FAT Protocol Looks Like in Practice
Before you take the checklist to a supplier's works, see what a completed factory acceptance test actually contains. This page walks through a worked example — a generic industrial machine, with illustrative values — showing each test step, how acceptance criteria are written, and how results and the punch list are recorded. It demonstrates the format, not benchmark figures for any real machine.
What this example shows
A factory acceptance test proves, at the supplier's factory and before shipment, that the equipment does what the contract says it must do. The test is only as strong as its protocol: a written script, approved before the test, that lists every check with its acceptance criterion and measurement method. The example below follows a single generic machine through that script — from identification and entry criteria, through functional, safety and performance testing, to the punch list and sign-off.
The test, step by step
Step 1
Equipment identification
The protocol opens with the machine's tag number, serial number, approved drawing revision and control software version — so the test is tied to exactly what was ordered, not to whatever happens to be on the shop floor.
Step 2
Entry criteria confirmation
Before testing starts, the protocol records that the machine is fully assembled in final configuration, utilities are connected at the specified voltage and air pressure, and the supplier's internal pre-FAT report is attached.
Step 3
Static and construction checks
Dimensions are checked against the approved general arrangement drawing, component brands against the approved bill of materials, and nameplates and conformity marking against the contract.
Step 4
Functional tests
Start, stop, pause and controlled shutdown sequences are run; HMI screens, alarms and user levels are exercised; a sensor-loss fault is simulated to prove the machine fails safely.
Step 5
Safety verification
Every emergency stop is triggered individually and the stop category recorded; interlocked guards are opened during operation to prove the machine halts; reset behaviour is verified.
Step 6
Performance run
The machine runs at rated conditions for the contracted duration on representative product. Throughput, reject rate and changeover time are measured and written into the protocol — numbers, not impressions.
Step 7
Punch list and sign-off
Open items are recorded with a category, owner and target date. The result is recorded as pass, conditional pass or fail, and signed by supplier, buyer and witness before shipment is authorised.
Sample protocol extract
Every line of a FAT protocol pairs a test with an acceptance criterion and a measurement method, and leaves room for the recorded result and status. The extract below shows the format with illustrative entries.
Throughput at rated speed
- Criterion:
- ≥ contracted rate, measured over a 2-hour continuous run
- Method:
- Counted output over timed run
- Result:
- Recorded value entered here
- Status:
- Pass
Emergency stop, infeed station
- Criterion:
- Category 1 stop, all motion halted
- Method:
- Trigger device during operation, observe stop
- Result:
- Stop category verified
- Status:
- Pass
Guard interlock, main enclosure
- Criterion:
- Machine halts within specified time when guard opens
- Method:
- Open guard during automatic cycle
- Result:
- Halt verified, time recorded
- Status:
- Pass
Product changeover time
- Criterion:
- ≤ agreed changeover time, measured
- Method:
- Timed format change, two operators
- Result:
- Measured value entered here
- Status:
- Conditional
Reject rate on representative product
- Criterion:
- ≤ agreed reject percentage
- Method:
- Rejected units counted over performance run
- Result:
- Recorded value entered here
- Status:
- Pass
O&M manuals, contract language
- Criterion:
- Complete documentation pack handed over at FAT
- Method:
- Document review against contract list
- Result:
- Electrical drawings outstanding
- Status:
- Punch B
Illustrative extract only. The values and statuses above demonstrate the recording format; they are not performance figures for any real machine or supplier.
Take the full checklist to the supplier's works
The complete ten-stage FAT protocol — contract basis, entry criteria, construction checks, functional and safety tests, the performance run, documentation, punch list categorisation and sign-off — is on the checklist page, with a printable PDF that downloads directly with no email or registration.