Key Aspects of the
AS9100 Certification
Emphasize Safety, Quality and Regulatory Compliance of Your Aerospace Products
Emphasize Safety, Quality and Regulatory Compliance of Your Aerospace Products
Safety is the highest priority for airplane manufacturers, and quality is the key to assure safety in aerospace products. The aerospace industry which includes aircraft (commercial and defense) as well as spacecraft is considered an evolving industry today due to technological advancements. As the demand for aviation and space exploration activities is growing, the companies are required to conform to the stringent regulations of quality and safety, to sustain their position in the industry.
AS9100 certification sets the benchmark for quality and safety in the aerospace industry. It is a specifically designed standard for the aerospace industry and underpins the requirements for establishing a QMS (Quality Management System) that helps manufacturers or suppliers to meet the safety and quality regulations.
Don’t be surprised if meeting this standard becomes a priority as the largest producers in the industry and across the world are aiming to have a higher percentage of their suppliers certified to AS9100. Also, note that it is developed as an improvement strategy from the IAQG (International Aerospace Quality Group) and the strategy aimed at getting “90% of the aviation, space and defense supply chain certified“.
If you want to adopt the standard, you need to learn its key aspects first. The key aspects are-
Risk- Based Approach
AS9100 Standard compels the organizations to employ a risk-based management process while making any major decision.
Product Safety
AS9100D comprises two sub-clauses. The first sub-clause insists on product safety. This standard requires suppliers to demonstrate the initiatives they employ for product safety.
The second sub-clause of this standard is “Counterfeit Product.” This clause attaches importance to counterfeit parts prevention. Here, you need to concentrate on training, review, verification programs, supplier management, and traceability.
Awareness
Organizations must ensure people are aware of how their processes impact quality and which actions they need to adopt further to meet the customer requirements.
Human Factors
Suppliers should take into account certain human factors such as fatigue, complacency, and stress while addressing the non-conformities and corrective actions.
Organizational Context
The standard makes manufacturers demonstrate how the quality management system (QMS) accounts for all of their relevant stakeholders and business associations. Apart from customers and your business, interested parties may include regulators, suppliers, and the local community.
Accountability and Performance Evaluation
These days, many standards are inclining towards management accountability. Auditors expect to see a documented management review. They want to know whether you are meeting targets or not. They want to know what steps you are taking when you are not meeting the targets.
With all these key aspects covered by the AS9100 standard, your business can get the following rewarding benefits when it gets certified.
Enhances your quality management processes and helps to deliver high-quality products that meet the expectations of customers, industry regulations and legal compliance obligations
Helps to monitor processes to find out inefficiencies, optimize the use of resources and make improvements continually
Increases consistency in the processes, reduces errors or reworks, and saves up operational costs
Opens doors to win more business contracts by demonstrating your commitment to providing quality and safe products/parts
Gets your business recognized globally which enhances the marketability of your products
Strengthens relationships with the stakeholders that provide your business with more prospects for future associations and growth
At Compliancehelp Consulting LLC, we will conduct a five-stage process to help you gain AS9100 certification in a quick time and in a trouble-free way. The stages are:
Learning about the Standard
First, we will help you learn about the standard and its requirements so that you can understand how your organization should carry on the certification process.
Interviewing Employees
We’ll talk to your employees to develop a better understanding of your business operations. At the same time, we will help your employees understand how they can contribute to implementation and how they can help the organization maintain AS9100 certification.
Gap Assessment
Once, your employees are fully versed in the AS9100 certification; we will conduct a thorough gap assessment to identify the requirements, which are not addressed by your existing Quality Management System (QMS). We will report the gaps and recommend measures to fill the gaps.
Documenting Compliance
If you need to develop additional documentation to establish compliance, our AS9100 consultants will also help identify missing documentation and design it to meet your requirements and the requirements of the standard. Especially any documentation needed to ensure the updated requirements have been implemented.
Verifying Compliance
Now we have reached the final stage of this certification process. Before you appear for the final audit performed by an independent certification body, we will conduct an internal audit. It’s like the final piece of the puzzle before scheduling the final audit. Our internal audit ensures your QMS is fine and ready to pass on the final audit.
We have earned a name in the field of certification consultancy. We take great pride in helping organizations pass the audit process and gain AS1900 certification. We strive to make the journey of clients towards successful certification as smooth and simple as possible.
Our AS9100 certification consultants will assist to get your business certified in one go while assuring ongoing compliance.
Instead of just checking off a list of requirements so that you can pass the audit, we focus more on the value that can be derived out of the process. We believe that a genuine commitment needs more planning and effort. We never compromise with the quality of our services, hence, we are always ready to put in the hard work needed to gain certification including:
Compliancehelp Consulting LLC has highly experienced AS9100 Certification Consultants for providing low-cost and personalized services that can speed up your certification process. Even after your aerospace business gets certified, we will help you consistently improve your QMS and stay compliant with regulations of the standard by doing surveillance audits.
To find out how we can help your company achieve AS9100 compliance, contact today and we will arrange a consultation for you.
AS9100 standard is developed by the joint efforts of international authorities i.e., IAQG (International Aerospace Quality Group) and SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers International) to help aerospace businesses create a strong and standardized QMS. It is recognized globally by organizations in the aviation, space research and defense segments. Businesses involved in the manufacturing, supplying or servicing of aerospace products or parts need this certification to prove that their products meet quality regulations, safety and legal compliance. So becoming AS9100 certified make them eligible as suppliers in the aerospace supply chain and gain the confidence of giant organizations in the aviation, space and defense sectors.
There is no such fixed cost for getting your business AS9100 certified. It primarily includes two types of costs. First is the cost for implementation of a compliant QMS and the second is economic cost which includes consultation expenses, fees of the certification body, etc. Both costs depend on the size of the aerospace business and current state of its QMS.
If your aerospace company already has a good QMS in place, you need some adjustments or improvements to make it compliant with AS9100 requirements. In that case, implementation costs will be considerably low. However, if you need to implement a QMS from the beginning, it will require more labor, time, and resources which results in higher implementation costs. Also, a small company, whether it has a QMS or not will always take less time in imparting AS9100 training and achieving compliance than for a large-sized company. Therefore, the cost of achieving certification is much lower for a small business than a large multifaceted company.
To get your aerospace business certified, you need to establish a robust QMS that fulfills all the obligations of the AS9100 standard. When you consider the QMS to be successfully implemented, you need to apply to a registrar or a certification body for getting the certification. They would carry out a thorough audit to check whether your QMS fulfills all the requirements as underlined by the standard. When they confirm that your business fulfills them, you shall receive the certification.
Internal audit is hence a daunting process. Hiring AS9100 certification consultants can ease your tension about internal audit and help you pass it easily. They would check for any nonconformities or potential issues in the QMS. So you will be able to make the necessary corrections in the QMS before the certification body comes for the external audit.
Clearly, to make your business qualified for aerospace certification, you need to have an established and competent QMS in place. Also, there are no particular types of aerospace businesses that can qualify for the certification. Any business across the aerospace industry whether it is engaged in designing, engineering, servicing or distribution of aerospace products or parts can qualify for it.
AS9100 certification is absolutely the right thing for your organization if you want it to exist as a part of the global aerospace supply chain. It is the benchmark standard for the aerospace industry and achieving it shall demonstrate your organization’s commitment to meeting the highest quality standard. It would hence assure the safety and credibility of your products, enabling you to become a supplier to the industry leaders or giant organizations.
AS9100 is on the general quality standard, ISO 9001 which is most accepted worldwide by all types of businesses. There have been new requirements added to the ISO 9001 standard which make it specific to aerospace quality management. The most important additional requirements involve product safety, product realization and planning, counterfeit parts, configuration management, supplier management, configuration management, raw material testing, and human factors.
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.
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