For people who are often in contact with goods testing and product inspection, inspection report, testing report, these terms are often found in work and feel a little confused. What is the difference between inspection and testing?

Definitions of Testing and Inspection

Let’s look at the definition in ISO17000:
What is Testing?
The activity of determining one or more characteristics of the conformity assessment object according to the procedure. Detection refers to the data obtained after a series of actions according to certain procedures and equipment. Testing is the activity of determining one or more characteristics of the conformity assessment object according to the procedure. Generally speaking, it refers to the activities of using instruments and equipment to evaluate according to technical standards and specifications, and the evaluation results are test data.
Note: testing is mainly applicable to materials, products, or processes.

What is Inspection?
Review the product design, product, process, or installation and determine its compliance with specific requirements, or determine its compliance with general requirements according to professional judgment. Inspection is based on certain procedures and equipment, a series of actions, combined with the detection data, based on personal experience. The judgment can be qualitative or quantitative. Generally speaking, it is to rely on people’s experience and knowledge and use test data or other evaluation information to determine whether it conforms to relevant regulations.
Note: the inspection of the process can include the inspection of personnel, facilities, technology, and methods. Inspection is sometimes called inspection.

The following conclusions are drawn from the definition of ISO17000:

  • Inspection and inspection are the same definitions.
  • Testing means that the laboratory tests the incoming samples and obtains various data of the samples, but does not judge whether the incoming samples are qualified or not and whether the quality is good or bad;
  • Inspection is the laboratory’s judgment of the conformity of the products submitted for inspection. The data used in the judicial process may come from the laboratory’s own test, or from the customer or other interested parties.
  • The laboratory tests the performance index of the product according to its own testing ability and makes the judgment of product conformity according to the performance index. This kind of laboratory that does both testing and judgment is called the inspection and testing organization.

Difference Between Testing and Inspection

  1. The inspection emphasizes “conformity”, which not only provides the results but also compares them with the specified requirements to determine whether they are qualified or not.
  2. Detection is an activity carried out on a given object according to the specified procedures. It can be seen that detection is only a technical activity. In the absence of clear requirements, it is only necessary to provide results, and there is no need to determine whether it is qualified or not.