A trial report arrives as a folder: photographs of parts, a dimensional table, a short list of corrections. Read it in this order and it tells you exactly where the tool stands.
1. Short shots and fill balance
The first measurement is whether the cavity filled completely and whether it filled evenly. A part that fills late on one side will warp, and warping shows up months later as a case that does not close flush. The report should show a short shot photograph and a fill analysis.
2. Dimensional table against the drawing
Look for the tolerance column rather than the measurement column. A dimension that is 0.2mm off inside a 0.3mm tolerance is a pass; the same deviation against a 0.1mm tolerance is the correction that comes next. Reports that show measurements without tolerances are not useful.
3. Appearance: sink marks, weld lines, flash
Cosmetic faults that appear on T1 are the hardest to remove later, because they are usually caused by wall section design rather than process settings. A visible sink mark above the USB port is worth flagging in the first review, not the last.
4. The correction list and the loop count
This is the real schedule indicator. A short correction list after T1 means the tool is close; a long list, or the same correction appearing at T2 that was made at T1, means the tool shop is iterating. Two or three loops is normal. A fourth usually means a design change, which restarts part of the clock.
5. Texture and colour trial
Texture is applied late because it is expensive and sensitive to process settings. A programme is not finished until a textured and coloured part has been produced and approved against a physical reference sample. Approving texture from a digital file is the mistake that produces the argument at the end of the project.
What to ask
Ask two questions on each report: which items from the last report are closed, and what is the date for the next shot. Those two answers are the project schedule.