To prepare for SAMAR assessment: self-score your unit against the 10 disciplines and their parameters, fix the evidence gaps (digital records of inspection, calibration, maintenance, traceability and supplier control), sustain the data for at least a few months, then run a mock assessment before booking the real one on samar.gov.in.
🎯 3-Minute SAMAR Readiness Quiz
Answer honestly — each question maps to a SAMAR discipline. You'll get an indicative readiness band and know exactly where to focus.
SAMAR in 60 Seconds
SAMAR (System for Advance Manufacturing Assessment and Rating) is DRDO and QCI's maturity rating for defence manufacturing enterprises — five levels, ten disciplines, 45 parameters for large enterprises and 40 for MSMEs, certificate valid two years, and per DRDO's notification mandatory from 01 May 2027 for industry partners manufacturing for DRDO labs. New to it? Start with our SAMAR basics guide, then come back here to prepare.
The SAMAR Readiness Checklist
Work through each discipline below. Every unchecked box is a finding waiting to happen — and most of them share one root cause: evidence that lives in registers and memory instead of systems.
1. Organisation & Leadership
- Quality & reliability policy documented, with values and ethical practices defined
- Leadership communicates quality importance regularly, to all levels, through defined channels
- Reward & recognition mechanism for quality contributions — running for 1–3+ years with records
- Risk register maintained with mitigation actions, owners and review dates
2. Quality Management
- Applicable defence quality standards/guidelines identified and deployed
- Documented Q&R processes: quality plans, inspection standards and configuration management
- Process control demonstrated at the workstation, with reaction plans
- Process capability measured — control charts, Cp/Cpk — on critical characteristics
- Product testing and final inspection records complete and retrievable
- In-process quality performance (rejection/rework trends) tracked and improving
3. Human Resources
- Competence requirements defined per role; skills matrix current
- Training delivered and assessed — tests or structured evaluations with records
- Employee involvement mechanisms (suggestions, kaizens, quality circles) active with evidence
4–5. Design Capability & Technology
- Design process documented; design records under revision control
- IP status known — copyrights, trademarks, patents where applicable
- Technology selection and upgradation decisions documented; defence technology development activities evidenced
6. Operations
- Workplace organised (5S) with sustained audit scores
- Daily works management boards/meetings with records
- Testing facilities adequate for your defence products, with capability evidence
- Every monitoring/measuring/test instrument under calibration control — master list, due dates, certificates, out-of-calibration handling
- Planned maintenance executed on schedule; breakdowns and OEE tracked
- Storage, packaging and transportation controls defined and followed
7. Supplier & Material Management
- Suppliers assessed and rated; development actions for weak performers
- Incoming inspection per defined plans, with records tied to lots
- Material management: identification, FIFO, shelf-life and non-conforming material control
- Counterfeit parts prevention controls (sourcing discipline, verification, quarantine)
- Traceability: raw material → in-process → final product, demonstrable in minutes
8. Safety & Security
- Physical, environmental and employee security controls in place
- Information asset management — security, confidentiality, resilience (critical for defence data)
- Safety management system with incident tracking and CAPA
9–10. Customer Focus & Finance
- Post-delivery support process; complaints handled with structured corrective action
- Warranty/guarantee claims tracked with trends
- Customer feedback collected and acted on; on-time delivery measured
- Turnover growth and gross profit margin data ready (audited financials)
Get the Complete SAMAR Readiness Checklist
The full parameter-by-parameter workbook — every discipline, every maturity level, with a self-scoring column and evidence examples. Delivered free on WhatsApp, along with an optional 15-minute gap-review call.
Send Me the Checklist Or Request It by EmailThe 5 Gaps That Cost the Most Levels
- Paper evidence. Registers prove someone wrote something once — not that a system runs. Higher maturity levels explicitly require defined mechanisms with sustained, dated evidence.
- Calibration drift. Instruments past due, missing certificates, no out-of-calibration impact assessment. Assessors check this early because it undermines every measurement you show them.
- Traceability that takes days. If linking a dispatched lot to its raw material and inspection results takes a hunt through files, you're demonstrating Level 2 — whatever your intentions.
- Capability without control. A one-time Cpk study is not process capability measurement — assessors look for ongoing control charts with reaction to signals.
- Supplier quality on trust. No ratings, no incoming inspection records, no counterfeit-prevention discipline — Discipline 7 has 5 parameters and they all want records.
A 12-Week Preparation Plan
- Weeks 1–2 — Gap assessment. Score every parameter against the maturity descriptions (or have our consultants do it with you). Output: a scored gap register.
- Weeks 3–8 — Close system gaps. Digitize the evidence engines: inspection records, calibration control, maintenance schedules, audits, document control, traceability, supplier ratings. This is where QMS software compresses months of manual system-building.
- Weeks 9–10 — Run and accumulate. Let the systems generate real records; train teams; fix adoption gaps while they're cheap.
- Week 11 — Mock assessment. Dry run with evidence retrieval drills: any record, under two minutes.
- Week 12 — Register and book. Apply on samar.gov.in, pay the (subsidised) fee, choose your date — and walk in knowing your score.
FAST Technology's software already runs inside a DRDO establishment — ITR (Integrated Test Range), Chandipur — covering audits, calibration, document management, test & evaluation and competence assessment. If you'd rather not build the bridge alone, book a SAMAR gap assessment.