# AI balloons the part drawing and fills the first article inspection report, instead of retyping every dimension (AdvancedPCB, Lake County Tool Works, B&B Airparts)

> AI ballooning for first article inspection: AdvancedPCB raised FAIR throughput 156% at one site; B&B Airparts cut FAIR time in half. Steps and a prompt.

- Canonical URL: https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/use-cases/ai-drawing-ballooning-first-article-inspection-report-advancedpcb/
- Department: Quality (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/departments/quality/)
- Evidence level: Verified. Real deployment at a named or precisely described company, with a measured result from a primary source.
- Added: 2026-10-28
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Publisher: AI Agents for Manufacturing (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com)
- Manufacturers named: AdvancedPCB (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/companies/#advancedpcb), B&B Airparts (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/companies/#b-b-airparts), Lake County Tool Works (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/companies/#lake-county-tool-works), Mass Precision (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/companies/#mass-precision)
- AI tools deployed: GroundControl (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/tools/#groundcontrol), InspectionXpert (Ideagen Quality Control) (https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/tools/#inspectionxpert-ideagen-quality-control)

## Role

Quality (inspection planning: ballooned drawings, first article inspection and PPAP reports). Typical users: quality engineer or quality inspector, CMM programmer, quality manager in a machine shop or supplier that must send first article (FAI) or PPAP reports

## The problem

Before a new part ships, many customers want a first article inspection report (FAIR; in aerospace, the AS9102 form) or a PPAP dimensional report. Someone must put a numbered balloon on every dimension, tolerance and note of the drawing (sometimes hundreds), retype each one into a spreadsheet, then type the measured values next to them. It takes hours per drawing, a missed characteristic means a rejected report, and a backlog of reports delays shipments and invoicing. At B&B Airparts, an aerospace machine shop, the quality team had upwards of 350 FAIs a month, and a FAIR could take 2 to 3 hours or 1 to 2 days on some parts. At AdvancedPCB, a circuit board maker, AS9102 reporting varied by site, needed frequent fixes in Excel, and FAIR backlogs directly blocked revenue collection.

## How AI helps

The quality engineer uploads the drawing (PDF or scan). The software finds the dimensions, tolerances, GD&T symbols and notes, places the numbered balloons, and fills the characteristic list of the report with nominal values and limits. Newer tools use AI models trained on manufacturing drawings, so they also read scans and older prints; others use OCR (text recognition) and rules. CMM or gauge results can be imported next to each characteristic. A person reviews every balloon against the drawing, focusing on the ones the tool flags as uncertain, before the report goes to the customer.

## Step by step

1. Count your reports: FAIRs or PPAP dimensional reports per month, hours per report, and the backlog today.
2. Pick 5 recent drawings, including your worst one (an old scan, many notes, several sheets), and the reports you made by hand for them.
3. Run them through one or two tools on a free trial and compare with your manual balloon list: count missed characteristics, especially in notes and title-block tolerances.
4. Set the rule: the tool does the first pass, a quality engineer checks every balloon against the drawing before export.
5. Connect the CMM or gauge results import so measured values are not retyped either.
6. Track hours per report, backlog and customer rejections for 2 months before rolling out to every inspector.

## Tools

- GroundControl (AI extraction of drawing characteristics, AS9102 FAIR): used at AdvancedPCB, Lake County Tool Works North and Mass Precision
- InspectionXpert (now Ideagen Quality Control; drawing ballooning and inspection reports): used at B&B Airparts
- Other tools to evaluate: 1Factory, Net-Inspect, DISCUS, High QA, and the ballooning features of your CMM or quality software
- For a first test: any LLM that reads images or PDFs (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini) with the prompt below, on one non-confidential drawing, to see what a first pass catches and misses

## Result

AdvancedPCB (printed circuit board fabrication and assembly for aerospace and defense), GroundControl (AI-powered quality software): pilot in Chandler, Arizona, in August 2024 produced 61 FAIRs in the first month; operators and CMM programmers productive within 30 minutes of training; FAIR throughput up 47% at one facility and 156% at another; more than 200 FAIRs a month across facilities; ROI in under one month (GroundControl case study). Lake County Tool Works North (GroundControl): its CEO is quoted saying the software cut FAI times by 50 to 70%; Mass Precision more than doubled its FAIR output and has had zero rejections since switching (GroundControl buyer's guide, August 2026). B&B Airparts (aerospace machine shop), InspectionXpert ballooning software with automatic capture of tolerances: FAIR time cut in half, and ballooned drawings now used to plan inspection before production (InspectionXpert customer story; it describes automated ballooning and does not say AI).

As reported by the source; most figures are vendor or self-reported and not independently verified.

## Human review: cautions

- All figures are published by the vendors (GroundControl, InspectionXpert), partly as customer quotes; none is independently verified.
- Automated ballooning can fail silently: a missed characteristic in the notes or title block becomes a rejected report. A person checks every balloon against the drawing.
- Test on your worst drawing (old scan, hand mark-ups), not the vendor's demo part.
- Customer drawings may be confidential or export-controlled (ITAR, CUI): check where the tool stores them, and never paste them into a public chatbot.

## Try it yourself (prompt)

```text
You are a quality engineer preparing a first article inspection report.

I will give you: (1) a part drawing [image or PDF, all sheets]; (2) the report format our customer wants [AS9102 Form 3, PPAP dimensional results, or our own columns].

Do this:
1. List every characteristic you find on the drawing, numbered in reading order sheet by sheet: balloon number, sheet and zone, type (dimension, GD&T, note, surface finish, thread, material or process note), nominal, upper and lower limit as written.
2. Include the notes block and the title-block default tolerances, and say which characteristics use the default tolerance.
3. Mark anything you cannot read clearly, or are unsure belongs on the report, as 'CHECK ON DRAWING'.
4. Give the list as a table I can paste into the report spreadsheet, with an empty column for measured values.
5. At the end, list the areas of the drawing you could not read at all.

Do not compute limits from a tolerance yourself if they are not written: copy the tolerance as written and mark 'COMPUTE LIMIT'. Never fill in a measured value. Use only the data I paste in; if something is missing, write 'not found' or list it as a question instead of guessing. Do not send, order, post or change anything in any system: produce drafts for my review and approval.
```

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- [AI runs a first-pass check of drawings and models before the design review, so engineers discuss real issues (INFICON, McDermott)](https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/use-cases/ai-first-pass-drawing-design-review-inficon-mcdermott/)
- [Automation and AI check supplier certificates of analysis against your specifications before material is released (Georgia-Pacific, C.H. Guenther, two anonymous manufacturers)](https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/use-cases/ai-supplier-certificate-of-analysis-check-georgia-pacific/)
- [AI warranty claim triage: check each claim against policy, flag duplicates and fraud](https://aiagentsformanufacturing.com/use-cases/ai-warranty-claim-triage-policy-fraud-check/)

## Sources

- https://gndctl.com/case-studies/advanced-pcb-as9102-software-case-study
- https://gndctl.com/resources/automated-ballooning-software-fai-buyers-guide-2026/
- https://www.inspectionxpert.com/customers/bbairparts

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