Inspection and Quality Assurance  Considerable schedule and cost efficiency is available from modern computerized inspection equipment.  When one thinks about the time involved to inspect a single part and then multiplies that time by a  thousand parts it is easy to see the large cost savings available from quick and accurate automated  inspection. Camera based inspection systems and automated Coordinate Measurement Machines (CMM)  are available with associated software to streamline the inspection process. Simple parts can be  inspected in a couple minutes and complex parts in a half hour with very little operator effort. This quick  inspection also results in a published inspection report against required tolerances.  There are multiple vendors offering camera based systems producing inspection accuracy on the order of  0.002 inch / 0.05 mm. These systems are available at a modest cost. The automated photographic  inspection process is:  1. An operator puts a part on a stand. 2. A pair of cameras on a motion control platform move around the part accumulating stereo photos. 3. The part is flipped over and then more photos are accumulated. 4. The photos are then processed in image analysis software to produce a point cloud. The point cloud is then mapped onto the dimensioned CAD file and an inspection report is produced. The inspection report will include pass-fail assessment against every required dimension and will show margin against tolerances. 5. The whole process typically takes a couple minutes per part and all the operator must do is put the part on a table, flip it over, then remove it. Automated CMM inspection provides much greater accuracy than the camera systems and is available at  a higher investment cost. An automated CMM works comparably to a manual CMM except the CMM axes  are motor driven and follow a programmed measurement path. Here an operator needs to put the part  into a jig setting the part datums for inspection. The CMM then drives through its inspection path.  Ultimately this process produces an automated inspection report comparable to that described above, but  at better accuracy than the camera process. A complex part with many features to inspect at both high  and low precision might take about 30 minutes for a full inspection.  Key Point: Modern automated inspection methods can provide accurate inspection very  quickly while minimizing the documentation burden.  Big Space programs invoke considerable costs with extensive quality assurance requirements. Every  deliverable document costs time and money. Every requirement flowed to subtier vendors adds to the  cost of each part. New Space programs are re-evaluating how much of this existing quality assurance  process is necessary. The right answer is neither (i) none of it nor (ii) all of it.    It is far less expensive to stop problems before mechanism test than to troubleshoot and resolve  mechanism failures and anomalies. New Space programs have the philosophy to drive costs out of  process control and quality assurance by re-evaluating what is truly necessary. However, New Space  programs cannot afford failures any more than Big Space programs. So, the mechanisms programs for  New Space can and must carefully address which process controls ultimately save more cost than they  add, and conversely, which processes add more cost than they save. This decision process will be driven  by judgments unique to each provider and program. It is crucial to perform this re-evaluation of quality  assurance process controls, but this paper will not attempt to address the relative merits of each.  Key Point: Done right, significant portions of conventional mission assurance can be  simplified to reduce cost and schedule with minimal increase is risk.  Assembly  Efficiency in assembly is always valuable and becomes crucial for keeping costs low in volume  manufacturing. An example from the restaurant industry illustrates key principles clearly. Most readers  have the opportunity to view very good lean manufacturing in action at a popular chain of burrito  NASA/CP—2018-219887 452