Last reviewed: October 2026
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This free factory acceptance test (FAT) checklist is for project and engineering leads, test and commissioning engineers and quality teams buying a machine, a process skid or a control system. One run is one FAT at the vendor’s works, run by the buyer and the vendor together before the equipment ships. It starts with the specification baseline, the approved drawings and a FAT protocol with acceptance criteria that both sides sign before testing. Preparation covers the schedule, attendees, calibrated instruments, utilities and test materials, and safety on the vendor’s floor. The test itself checks the documents and drawings, inspects the equipment and its panels, proves the safety functions, I/O, alarms and HMI, and runs the functional and performance tests. Deviations go on a punch list with a category and an owner, and a failed test adds a fix-and-retest task. The project lead signs the FAT report and decides the outcome, then the conformity documents, packing and load are checked before release.
A factory acceptance test (FAT) checks new equipment at the vendor’s works, against the specification in the contract, before it is packed and shipped. Faults found there are fixed by the people who built the equipment, with their tools and spares to hand. The same fault found after installation waits for an engineer to travel and holds up the start-up. For automation systems in the process industry, IEC 62381 (edition 3, 2024) sets out requirements and checklists for the factory acceptance test, the factory integration test, the site acceptance test and the site integration test.
This checklist runs one FAT. It sits between the decision to buy, made in the Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Approval Checklist, and the tests at your own site. Each stage answers a different question.
Asks: was the equipment built and does it work as specified, before it leaves the vendor?
Where and when: at the vendor’s works, after the vendor’s own tests and before packing.
Output: a signed FAT report, an agreed punch list and the equipment released to ship.
Asks: does it still work after transport and installation, connected to your utilities and systems?
Where and when: at your site, after installation, repeating key FAT tests and closing the items left open.
Output: site acceptance, often the trigger for a contract payment.
Asks: is it ready to run in production with your people, procedures and maintenance plan?
Where and when: at your site after the SAT, with real product and operators trained.
Output: equipment in service, with maintenance in the Equipment Maintenance Workflow Checklist and the Preventive Maintenance Checklist. On a hazardous process, take it through the Management of Change (MOC) Checklist first.
Eight phases follow one FAT from the approved specification to the load leaving the vendor’s works. Due dates count from the FAT start date, and the shipping tasks count back from the planned ship date. A machine, a process skid or a control system adds its own tests, in person or remote witnessing adds its preparation, GMP equipment adds three tasks, and a failed test or a major deviation adds a fix-and-retest task. The project lead signs the FAT report and decides the outcome before anything ships.
A FAT tests the equipment against what was ordered, so the specification, drawings, protocol and acceptance criteria are agreed and approved before anyone travels. Every due date counts back from the FAT start date; the release tasks count back from the planned ship date.
Most lost FAT days come from missing materials, instruments out of calibration or equipment that is not finished. Confirm each one before the travel is booked.
Start with the documents and a close look at the equipment while it is still easy to reach. Log every finding in the punch list as you go, with a category.
Prove that every safety function works before the equipment is run hard. Control tests use the I/O list and the functional specification, one point and one sequence at a time.
Run the equipment the way it will be used, with your materials where you can, and record each result against its acceptance criterion rather than “works OK”.
Every deviation gets a category, an owner and a date. A failed test or a major deviation adds a fix-and-retest task, so the report never records a pass that was not witnessed.
The report is the record the site acceptance test and any later dispute start from. Nothing after the sign-off can be completed until the project lead records the outcome.
The outcome decides what comes next: close the punch items first, hand them to the site acceptance test, or repeat the FAT. Then check the conformity documents, the packing and what leaves the works.
No single law or free standard sets out how to run a FAT; the protocol you agree with the vendor does that. But the rules on supplying machinery, guarding and GMP equipment decide some of what you check and what must ship with the equipment. Use the table as a starting point; it is not legal advice.
| Topic | What the source says | What it means at the FAT |
|---|---|---|
| Testing by the maker (Great Britain) | The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 require the responsible person to carry out, or have carried out, the research and tests on components, fittings or the completed machinery needed to decide whether it can be assembled and put into service safely (regulation 7(3); regulation 8(4) for partly completed machinery). | The FAT is your check on the equipment, not the vendor’s conformity assessment. Ask to see the vendor’s own tests and risk assessment before the visit. |
| Declaration and marking (Great Britain) | Before machinery is placed on the market or put into service: the essential health and safety requirements met, a technical file, instructions, a conformity assessment procedure, a declaration of conformity that accompanies the machinery and the UK marking (regulation 7(2)). Regulation 12A accepts the EC declaration and CE marking under the Machinery Directive instead. | Check which declaration and marking the contract asks for, and that they will ship with the equipment. |
| Partly completed machinery (Great Britain) | Comes with technical documentation, assembly instructions and a declaration of incorporation, which stay with it until it is built into machinery and then form part of that machinery’s technical file (regulation 8). | A module or skid built into a larger line may ship with a declaration of incorporation, not a declaration of conformity. Agree which one you will receive. |
| EU Machinery Regulation | Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery repeals the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. The European Commission says it applies on a mandatory basis from 20 January 2027, and machinery placed on the market before that date must comply with the Directive. | For equipment shipping around January 2027, agree which law the declaration will cite. |
| Great Britain from 20 January 2027 | An amendment (S.I. 2026/867, in force 20 January 2027) treats machinery that meets the EU Machinery Regulation, with its EU declaration of conformity and CE marking, as meeting the requirements of regulation 7(2). | A CE-marked machine under the new EU Regulation will still be accepted in Great Britain on that route. |
| Machine guarding (US) | 29 CFR 1910.212 requires one or more methods of guarding to protect the operator and others in the machine area from hazards such as the point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks, and machines designed for a fixed location to be securely anchored. | The duty falls on the employer using the machine. Check the guards at the FAT, while the vendor can still change them. |
| GMP equipment (US) | 21 CFR 211.63: equipment of appropriate design, adequate size and suitably located for its intended use and for cleaning and maintenance. 21 CFR 211.68: automatic and computerised equipment calibrated, inspected or checked under a written programme, with controls so that only authorised personnel change records, and backups kept. | Test product-contact parts, cleanability and computerised system controls at the FAT, and agree which results your qualification will rely on. |
| Process automation systems | IEC 62381:2024 (edition 3) defines requirements and checklists for the FAT, factory integration test, SAT and site integration test of automation systems in the process industry, so the owner, buyer and vendor can agree the scope of activities and responsibilities. | A useful basis for the protocol of a control or automation system. It is a paid standard; buy it from the IEC if you work to it. |
Remote FATs. A video link saves travel but makes some checks harder: noise, vibration, heat and the feel of a guard do not come through a camera. Agree before the FAT which tests need a person on the floor, such as a third-party inspector, and how each remote result is evidenced.
Acceptance criteria. Write each criterion so a witness can say pass or fail without discussion: a number with a tolerance, a defined condition or a document that must exist. Everything else becomes a negotiation at the closing meeting.
The project lead, FAT test lead, vendor liaison and quality lead are chosen on the first task, and each step is assigned to the person who owns it. The sign-off is assigned to the project lead alone, and nothing after that approval step can be completed until the outcome is recorded.
A machine adds the guarding check and a run with your own parts, a process skid adds the piping, pressure and process tests, and a control system adds the network, redundancy and integrated tests. GMP equipment adds three tasks, a failed test adds a fix-and-retest task, and the outcome shows the close-out, the hand-over to site or the repeat FAT. Rules show and hide each one from the answers given.
Due dates count from the FAT start date and back from the ship date, and overdue alerts go to the task’s assignees. The signed test records, instrument certificates, punch list, photos and software versions sit on the tasks that produced them, and the Reports Grid lists every FAT in progress and the task each one has reached.
CheckFlow does not test equipment or write your acceptance criteria. That stays with your engineers, the vendor and your specification. It makes sure every test in the protocol is run, witnessed, recorded and signed off in order, by the right people, with the evidence attached. CheckFlow’s manufacturing checklist software shows how the same approach runs other plant routines.
Approve the purchase with the Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Approval Checklist and run the wider project with the Capital Project Checklist. Keep the test instruments in date with the Calibration Management Checklist. When the equipment arrives, check the delivery with the Goods Receiving & Inspection Checklist, and isolate it for any work with the Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) Procedure Checklist. Once it is in service, it moves to the Equipment Maintenance Workflow Checklist and the Preventive Maintenance Checklist, and its output to the Manufacturing Quality Control Checklist. For software on its own, use the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Checklist; for a GMP supplier’s quality system, the GMP Audit Checklist.
Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Approval Checklist
Management of Change (MOC) Checklist
Manufacturing Quality Control Checklist
Equipment Maintenance Workflow Checklist
PPAP Submission Checklist
Describe the process in a sentence and the AI checklist generator drafts the phases and tasks for you.
A test of new equipment at the vendor’s works, run by the buyer and the vendor together before the equipment ships. It checks the equipment against the specification and drawings in the contract, using a protocol and acceptance criteria both sides approved beforehand. Deviations go on a punch list with a category and an owner, and the buyer’s project or engineering lead signs the FAT report and decides whether the equipment can ship.
The FAT happens at the vendor’s works before shipping; the site acceptance test (SAT) happens at your site after installation. The FAT proves the equipment was built and works as specified, with simulators where your plant is not connected. The SAT proves it still works after transport, connected to your utilities and systems, and closes the punch items left open at the FAT. Commissioning then brings it into production.
The specification and drawing revisions it tests against, each test with its method, expected result and acceptance criterion, who witnesses and signs each result, the instruments used and their calibration, how deviations are graded, and what outcome each grade allows. Approve it on both sides before the FAT. This checklist adds the preparation, safety, document and shipping steps around the tests.
From the buyer, the project or engineering lead who signs the report, a test lead who witnesses and records, and usually people from operations, maintenance and quality. From the vendor, the project manager and the engineers who built and programmed the equipment. An end client or a third-party inspector may attend too. Agree who signs each test record before the FAT starts.
Yes, by video link with cameras on the equipment and the instruments, screen sharing of the HMI and recordings of each test. Some checks are harder remotely, such as noise, vibration, heat and the fit of guards, so agree before the FAT which tests need a person on the floor and how each remote result is evidenced. Choose Remote or Both on the first task to add that preparation.
Each failure goes on the punch list with a category, an owner and a close-by date. A failed test or a major deviation adds a task to fix it and repeat the test in full. At sign-off the project lead accepts the equipment, accepts it with punch items to close before shipping or at site, or rejects it and asks for the FAT to be repeated, which hides the shipping tasks and adds a task to agree the fixes and a new date.
Not one that covers every kind of equipment. For automation systems in the process industry, IEC 62381:2024 defines requirements and checklists for the FAT, factory integration test, SAT and site integration test. GMP equipment for drug manufacture must meet rules such as 21 CFR 211.63 and 211.68 in the US. For most machines the protocol you agree with the vendor sets the tests.
No. In Great Britain the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 put the duty to test, assess conformity, draw up the declaration and mark the machinery on the responsible person, normally the manufacturer, before it is supplied. The FAT is the buyer’s own check. Use it to confirm that the right declaration and marking will ship with the equipment.
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