{ "id": "gate", "name": "gate · Export Shipment Gate", "version": "1.0", "date": "2026-10-18", "language": "en", "url": "https://gate.lightbdb.com/en/", "original": { "language": "zh-CN", "url": "https://gate.lightbdb.com/" }, "maintainer": { "name": "LIGHT BDB / 轻无品牌设计（深圳）有限公司", "contact": "simon@lightbdb.com" }, "license": "Free to cite, republish and use internally with source and version; adaptations may not carry the gate name or numbering.", "scope": { "covers": [ "purchase order to container loaded", "four moments: admission, order intake, production, release", "evidence form and deciding role at each moment" ], "excludes": [ "social compliance and system audits", "payment, trade compliance, origin, duty", "after-sales, claims, returns", "product safety certification" ] }, "verdicts": [ { "value": "pass", "en": "Pass", "meaning": "Evidence complete: revision, two signatures, traceable number" }, { "value": "fail", "en": "Fail", "meaning": "Evidence exists but the conclusion does not stand" }, { "value": "unclear", "en": "Unclear", "meaning": "Not judgeable; must be assigned one person and one date on the spot" } ], "evidenceLaw": { "rule": "A document counts as evidence only with a revision, two signatures and a traceable number. Missing any one, the verdict is Unclear, not Pass.", "requirements": [ { "key": "revision", "en": "A revision", "test": "Controlled document number plus revision, e.g. FY-WI-QA-F017 / A/0" }, { "key": "signature", "en": "Two signatures", "test": "The person who judged and the person who reviewed" }, { "key": "traceability", "en": "A traceable number", "test": "Lot, report or shipment number leading back to this batch" } ] }, "grades": { "A": "Traces to a line in a real sample document", "B": "Indirect evidence: cause documented, corrected practice not", "C": "No sample support yet, awaiting validation" }, "gates": [ { "id": "Z", "en": "Admission gate", "when": "before the order is accepted", "owner": "Purchasing · QA", "question": "If this gate fails, the other nine checks only document a shipment that was going to go wrong." }, { "id": "A", "en": "Order intake gate", "when": "from PO to order confirmation", "owner": "Sales · Production planning", "question": "This gate decides two things: whether to take the order, and whether a date can be promised." }, { "id": "B", "en": "Production gate", "when": "from line start to first output", "owner": "Production · QA · Engineering", "question": "This gate decides whether work may start, and whether it may continue." }, { "id": "C", "en": "Release gate", "when": "from final inspection to container", "owner": "QA · Documentation · Shipping", "question": "This gate decides whether the goods ship, and who signs them out." } ], "criteria": [ { "id": "Z-01", "gate": "Z", "grade": "A", "title": "Is the last audit still valid for this order?", "question": "Within the past 12 months, was there an audit scoped to the same process as this order, with a conclusion other than “rejected”?", "pass": "An audit report carrying a report number, audit date, auditor signature and a grade band. Older than 12 months, or a different product category, does not count.", "record": "Report no. / audit date / auditor / grade band / processes covered", "owner": "Purchasing + QA (two signatures)", "block": "Run an admission audit before quoting a date. A date promised on a plant nobody has audited is the customer's order resting on a report nobody read.", "basis": "The sample audit report scores out of 100 across six weighted sections and bands the result in four levels. The sample plant scored 63.5, banded “acceptable”, still carrying four corrective items." }, { "id": "Z-02", "gate": "Z", "grade": "A", "title": "Who holds the written right to stop?", "question": "Is the quality lead independent of production, and does that person hold a written authority to stop the line or stop a shipment, naming the trigger conditions and the signatory?", "pass": "An organisation chart showing QA does not report to production, plus an authorisation document stating triggers, scope and signatory.", "record": "Document no. / signatory / trigger conditions / authorised role", "owner": "Authorised signatory (owner or plant manager) + QA lead", "block": "Without this, the other eleven checks are decoration: nobody can stop the container at the last minute.", "basis": "The sample audit scores “QA stop-shipment authority” as a separate line. The plant earned half credit: authority existed, but was conditional." }, { "id": "Z-03", "gate": "Z", "grade": "A", "title": "Is the acceptance basis a controlled document?", "question": "Is there a controlled inspection standard for this order: document number, revision, three signatures (prepared, checked, approved), and a revision history?", "pass": "Cover page with all three signatures; revision history linked to change notices; revision identical to this order's specification.", "record": "Doc no. / revision / the three names / date of last revision entry", "owner": "QA lead", "block": "An electronic copy with no signatures, or another product's standard lightly edited, is judged Unclear. Production does not start.", "basis": "The sample standard carries a document number, a revision, three signatures and a revision log — which is why this check can be graded A." }, { "id": "A-01", "gate": "A", "grade": "B", "title": "Is the ship date calculated, or promised?", "question": "Is the schedule derived from standard time per key process × quantity + buffer, and does a written schedule exist with start and end dates for each key process?", "pass": "A schedule showing the derivation line, plus the key-process list, with the two agreeing.", "record": "Key processes / standard time each / quantity / buffer days / resulting date", "owner": "Production planning (countersigned by sales before commitment)", "block": "“It should be fine” does not pass. Neither does a date that matches last time's date.", "basis": "The sample records the absence of measurable time standards — the cause is documented, but no instance of a derived schedule appears, so the check is graded B." }, { "id": "A-02", "gate": "A", "grade": "B", "title": "Have the requirements collapsed into one document?", "question": "Are model, revision, destination-country access requirements and packaging artwork revision written on one document, with exactly one revision in force?", "pass": "One specification carrying a revision and a date, plus dated written customer confirmation (email or signed sample).", "record": "Spec revision / confirming person / date / artwork revision", "owner": "Sales + Engineering (sales closes the customer loop)", "block": "“We said it in chat”, a verbal yes, or three revisions alive at once are all treated as none.", "basis": "“Requirements still change after confirmation” appears in a sample meeting resolution — the failure is documented, the fix is not, so graded B." }, { "id": "A-03", "gate": "A", "grade": "A", "title": "Does the acceptance basis come from one source?", "question": "Do defect classification (CR / MAJ / MIN), sampling plan and inspection method come from the same document, at the same revision as this order's specification?", "pass": "One page holding all four: classification, sampling plan, inspection method, sealed-sample reference number.", "record": "Cited standard no. and revision / sampling plan (standard, inspection level, Ac / Re) / method / seal no.", "owner": "QA + customer, or the customer's third party", "block": "If the customer judges by AQL and the plant judges by eye, the dispute is settled before the goods are packed.", "basis": "The sample inspection standard is a controlled form with classification, sampling and method on one page — directly corresponding to this check." }, { "id": "B-01", "gate": "B", "grade": "A", "title": "Was the first article approved before mass production?", "question": "Was the first article approved before mass production began, with a first-article report, comparison photos against the sealed sample, and a date?", "pass": "A first-article report dated earlier than the production record, with comparison photos carrying the seal number.", "record": "First-article time / production start time / report no. / seal no.", "owner": "QA (approver) + production supervisor countersign", "block": "A first article produced during the run counts as none. Photos without dates are judged Unclear.", "basis": "The sample audit treats first-article timing as a scored item and records the pre-production requirement explicitly." }, { "id": "B-02", "gate": "B", "grade": "A", "title": "Is the station holding this order's work instruction?", "question": "Does every key process have a controlled SOP (number, revision, signature), and is the revision the one this order requires?", "pass": "A station photo where number and revision are legible, plus an SOP register listing all controlled revisions.", "record": "SOP no. and revision per key process / date of the station photo", "owner": "Engineering + production supervisor", "block": "No SOP, uncontrolled SOP, or unsigned SOP: fail.", "basis": "The sample problem list names missing or uncontrolled work instructions as a recurring finding across lines." }, { "id": "B-03", "gate": "B", "grade": "B", "title": "Is every change traceable?", "question": "For any change in material, supplier, tooling or process, is there a change notice, a re-validation conclusion, and customer confirmation?", "pass": "Change notice (number and effective date) + validation report + written customer confirmation, in a sensible order.", "record": "Change notice no. / what changed / effective date / re-validation result / customer confirmation date", "owner": "Engineering + QA (sales closes the customer loop)", "block": "“Different supplier, same thing” does not pass. Changed is changed; only validated passes.", "basis": "The samples show supplier and material substitution without a notice trail — the failure is evidenced, the corrected practice is not, so graded B." }, { "id": "C-01", "gate": "C", "grade": "A", "title": "Does the release report name its basis?", "question": "Does the pre-shipment inspection report cite what it judged against (document number and revision), with CR / MAJ / MIN columns filled — including zeros?", "pass": "A report citing document number and revision, with numbers in every defect column, even 0.", "record": "Report no. / cited document and revision / CR, MAJ, MIN counts / release signatory", "owner": "QA lead (release signature)", "block": "Empty defect columns, or a bare “passed” with no basis, fail. Blank is not zero — blank means nobody judged.", "basis": "“No defect standard” appears as a standalone finding in the sample problem list — this check is the direct translation of that line." }, { "id": "C-02", "gate": "C", "grade": "A", "title": "Do quantity and lot number agree in three places?", "question": "Do lot number, production date and carton count agree across the inspection report, the packing list and the carton marking?", "pass": "Photos or scans of all three, with one lot number traceable through them.", "record": "Lot no. / production date / carton count from each source; any discrepancy with the person handling it", "owner": "Documentation + warehouse (countersigned before shipment)", "block": "One mismatch fails.", "basis": "The samples omit the lot field in two separate places — both are traceable to a line, which is what makes this graded A." }, { "id": "C-03", "gate": "C", "grade": "C", "title": "Are the documents and the goods the same lot?", "question": "Do invoice, packing list, customs declaration and bill of lading agree on description, quantity, value, gross and net weight, and destination port — and agree with the goods?", "pass": "One five-way reconciliation sheet, zero differences.", "record": "Each field per document, cell by cell; write 0 or the explanation", "owner": "Documentation (self-check before issuing, re-check before release)", "block": "Any mismatch fails. “The broker will fix it” is how this check usually dies.", "basis": "Awaiting sample: none of the four sample documents contains a reconciliation record. Kept rather than deleted because the cost of a mismatch is far above the cost of checking." } ], "openQuestions": [ { "id": "Q1", "question": "Cosmetic judgement: by surface zone, or by defect count?", "affects": [ "A-03", "C-01" ] }, { "id": "Q2", "question": "When does sampling tighten?", "affects": [ "A-03", "C-01" ] }, { "id": "Q3", "question": "Who signs the final stop-shipment authority?", "affects": [ "Z-02", "C-01" ] } ], "disclaimer": "Does not guarantee acceptance; does not replace third-party inspection or statutory certification; not calibrated for every destination or category; not legal or compliance advice; does not rate a factory." }