Production and materials
Quality control before the stand ships
Lokman Türkoğlu · Founder & Head of Design · 3 min read · Last updated:
Short answer
How is a stand checked before it ships?
The check runs under five headings, each with one owner. Under dimensions, the measurements taken at the dry build are compared with the drawing; under surfaces, paint, edge banding and laminate are inspected in daylight and again under the stand lighting. Under graphics, text, language, logo and colour are compared against the last approved file, and under electrics every fitting and socket is energised and tested. Under packing, crates are counted against the list and spare fixings added. One person signs the list, because an unsigned list is a hope rather than a check.
Dimensions, surfaces, fixings
Dimensional checking happens at the dry build and answers two questions: do the parts meet, and does the overall size stay inside the plot. The second matters most. A stand fits on the drawing, then grows by a few centimetres once facing thicknesses are added, and encroaches on the neighbour.
Surfaces are inspected under two lights. A paint mark invisible under workshop strip lighting appears under the stand’s own spots. That is why the light fittings must be mounted for the dry build.
Fixings are counted and duplicated. The sentence heard most often during a build is that a part is missing, and a box of spare screws and corner connectors removes it. The toolkit is part of the shipment too, never something assumed to exist on site.
Moving parts are tested separately. Doors, drawers, hinges and castors are worked several times over, not once; a door that will be opened a hundred times a day at the fair is not proved by two tries in the workshop.
Checking graphics and colour
There are two classes of graphic error: content and print. Content errors are typos, an old logo, a discontinued product name and the wrong language. On bilingual stands the commonest fault is one panel printed from an old file. The check should be done by the person who approved the copy, not by the designer.
Print errors are colour shift, banding, misalignment at joints and low resolution. Where a brand colour is involved, compare against a printed proof; a screen comparison is not enough.
One last check is by distance: look at each wall from three metres. A headline that cannot be read at that range will never be read at the fair. Reading distance and type size are treated separately on the design side.
Have someone read the copy aloud during the check. Reading silently, the eye skips over words it recognises; read out loud, a missing letter or an awkward translation is heard immediately.
The packing list and labelling
The last step is counting. Every line of the packing list is physically counted, crate numbers are read off, and weights and dimensions recorded. That record is used not only on site but at customs and for transit insurance.
Labelling has two layers. The outer label identifies the crate: project, fair, hall and stand number, crate sequence. The inner label identifies the part: its assembly number and the wall it belongs to. Logistics reads the outer label, the build crew reads the inner one.
The list travels to site in two copies, one with the crew leader and one in the crate. On tear-down night the same list runs backwards and a missing part is noticed that night. On reusable stand types, this discipline decides how long the stand lives.
The last line is always the same: who signed. The signature is not there to catch the fault but to show the check actually happened. An unsigned list is a sheet of paper nobody on site trusts.
Who should carry out the check?
Not the person who built it. A maker checking their own work misses the same fault twice. The project lead or a separate quality officer signs the list.
Is the check repeated on site?
Yes, in short form. The same five headings are reviewed once the build is finished, because transit damage only shows up at that point.