Applying AS9100 Rev D

The Hassle-Free Approach to Implementing an Aerospace QMS for Small Businesses

Mark Hammar

• Publisher: Advisera Expert Solutions Ltd
• eBook ISBN: 9789538155178
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Operations
• Index: Business

Mark Hammar is an experienced Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence through the American Society for Quality. He has written this book to provide a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for AS9100 implementation, written in plain language, which can be understood by beginners with no prior knowledge of the standard. The main goal of the book is to provide a systematic picture of what AS9100 Rev D is all about, and how to make sure you didn't forget something in your implementation. This book will explain how to use AS9100 Rev D as a framework, and to become fully compliant with this standard.

This book is written primarily for beginners in the field of QMS, and for people with moderate knowledge about AS9100. It is structured in such a way that someone with no prior experience or knowledge in the implementation of an aerospace QMS can quickly understand what it is about, and how to implement the whole project. If you do have experience with the standard but feel that you still have gaps in your knowledge, you'll also find this book very helpful. This book provides implementation examples in small- and medium-sized organizations (i.e. companies with up to 500 employees). All the principles described here, however, are also applicable to larger organizations. That means, if you work for a larger company, you might also find this book useful.

So, if you are a quality manager, a quality management professional, head of the quality department or a project manager who is tasked with implementing AS9100 Rev D in a small- or mid-sized company, this book is perfect for you. This book will also be quite useful for consultants, since it makes an effort to present information in the most logical way to implement an aerospace QMS. By carefully reading this book, you will gain the know-how for your future consulting engagements.

However, what you may find most helpful in this book is the practical examples and answers to real-life questions that come up when implementing AS9100. These bits of advice come from the author's experience both implementing AS9100, and from questions that he has been asked on a daily basis. After reading this book, you'll be able to implement the standard yourself, since it will provide you with enough knowledge and tips to implement the requirements in a small or mid-sized company.

1. INTRODUCTION

Why design a QMS specifically for the aerospace industry? What makes AS9100 Rev D particularly useful if you are in the aviation, space or defense industry? Is this book the right choice for you?

1.1 Why is AS9100 Rev D important within aerospace?

Companies that don’t meet the needs of their customers when providing their products and services don’t last long, that is just a fact. In order to be a profitable company you need to give your customers what they want, while still balancing the overall cost to provide your product or service.

However, there is more to running a business than just making and delivering products. Many different processes need to come together to make this happen, from the identification of requirements through to the delivery and post-delivery of the product or service. These processes ensure that your customer is satisfied with what you have delivered. With so many balls in the air at one time, it can be difficult to manage the juggling without dropping any, so it is best to have some sort of system in place to ensure that everyone knows what needs to happen – what balls need to be juggled – and how the balls are supposed to interact.

Take, for instance, the identification of requirements for your products and services. This may sound like an easy task – so easy that you could have anyone assigned to it, but is it really? Not only will you get requirements from your customer contracts, but there will also be legal requirements that you will have to meet. You may also have aerospace industry standards as well as internal limitations that need to be considered, not to mention the needs of other stakeholders. Looking at it in this way, this is a bigger job than at first glance.

In order to ensure that all of these different processes and tasks are managed in a consistent way companies have taken to implementing a QMS. When implemented properly, the QMS will ensure that all of the interrelated processes of the business are controlled so that no problems occur when the output of one process leads to the next. In many cases, this structure becomes more of a business management system as it identifies and controls all of the processes in your business.

This is where AS9100 comes into play. If you are to design a business management system to control your processes, you will want a structure that is proven to work. AS9100 provides this structure for aerospace organizations. As you will see later in this book, AS9100 is a standard set of requirements for implementing the process of a QMS. It is based on best practices that are recognized world-wide, and tailored to the aerospace industry. This gives you a framework that can be tailored to your company’s unique needs, and promotes continual internal improvement of your processes to help ensure your company remains viable into the future.

So, the point is: AS9100 implementation should not be just another bureaucratic piece of overhead. If implemented properly, it can be a beneficial tool to not only help you to maintain control over what you do now, but to also find improvements and gain some business benefits.

1.2 How is aerospace different?

“That’s all well and good,” I hear you say, “but what’s so special about aerospace? Why can’t we use the same QMS as everyone else?”

While it is true that many of the processes of a QMS are the same for an aerospace company as they are for any other company, there are some additions that are needed.

Or course, the reason for the additions is that the product and service requirements of aerospace are much more stringent than many other industries. The reason behind this is the usage of the products in question. The aerospace industry is comprised of companies that supply products and services for the aviation, space and defense sector. For these products and services, reliability and safety is of the utmost importance. If a problem happens in an aircraft, there could be a fatal crash; if a satellite fails after launch, there is no way to get it back for repairs; if a defense warning system fails, lives could be in danger.

Because of the above factors, the standard requirements for a QMS, although very good, are not enough. As I will explain in section 2.2, AS9100 uses internationally recognized QMS (ISO 9001:2015) requirements, and adds components specific to, and determined by the aerospace industry. That is why, on top of the standard requirements for quality management processes, there are requirements for such important factors as product safety, operational risk management and the prevention of counterfeit parts.

In effect, what AS9100 does is to take the world-class best practices for managing quality and adds the additional requirements that are important to the aerospace industry. In this way, you have everything you need in one place to demonstrate your ability to consistently provide aerospace products and services that meet all the applicable requirements.

1.3 AS9100 puts it all together

One of the best things about AS9100 is that it has a comprehensive, yet balanced approach to building up an aerospace QMS. It not only strikes a perfect balance between the quality management and business sides of the organization, but it also requires the direct involvement of top management in the quality management implementation. This helps to ensure that the project has all the required resources while still supporting the strategic objectives of the company.

AS9100 explains how to structure the quality management documentation and how to apply only those controls and safeguards that are really necessary for the company. It gives you the tools to regularly review the whole system and improve it whenever it is possible, it provides you with a system to train your employees and make them aware of the importance of quality principles, and it includes the requirements for resource planning, including financial resources.

As I will explain in detail later on, it gives a perfect implementation path. It is written in such a sequential way that you just have to follow the structure of the standard to implement your QMS in the most logical way.

Finally, it provides a management framework to evaluate whether quality management has achieved some business value. This is achieved by setting objectives and measuring whether these objectives are fulfilled. You may be surprised, but I like this part very much because, if the management sees concrete benefits from their quality management investment, it is the best way to ensure a long and successful life for the QMS in your company.

1.4 Who should read this book?

This book is written primarily for beginners in the field of QMSs, and for people with moderate knowledge about AS9100. It is structured in such a way that someone with no prior experience or knowledge in the implementation of an aerospace QMS can quickly understand what it is about, and how to implement the whole project. If you do have experience with the standard but feel that you still have gaps in your knowledge, you’ll also find this book very helpful.

This book provides implementation examples in small- and medium-sized organizations (i.e. companies with up to 500 employees). All the principles described here, however, are also applicable to larger organizations. That means, if you work for a larger company, you might also find this book useful. Please be aware that, in some cases, the solutions will have to be more complex than the ones described in this book – for example, you might have the need for more complex production and service controls than is described in chapter 9.

So, if you are a quality manager, quality management professional, head of the quality department or a project manager who is tasked with implementing AS9100 Rev D in a small- or mid-sized company, this book is perfect for you. This book will also be quite useful for consultants, as I have made an effort to present information in the most logical way to implement an aerospace QMS. By carefully reading this book you will gain the know-how for your future consulting engagements.

One thing this book is not, is an audit guide. This book is not written as a guide for performing the audits, but it might be useful for internal auditors, because it will help them to understand all the requirements of AS9100 Rev D. It will also present the best practice for implementation, which can be helpful when the auditor needs to provide some recommendation in his or her audit report.

Finally, this book can be used as a kind of checklist for experienced aerospace quality management practitioners. As with training courses, even if you do not learn anything especially new, it is always helpful to get a comprehensive and structured view of how AS9100 Rev D should be implemented.

This is exactly how...

Table of contents

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. WHAT EXACTLY IS AS9100?
• 3. GETTING BUY-IN FROM YOUR MANAGEMENT AND OTHER EMPLOYEES
• 4. PREPARING FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION
• 5. FIRST STEPS IN THE PROCESS
• 6. THE BASICS: THINGS YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR QMS WORK
• 7. UNDERSTANDING HOW YOUR QMS WILL FIT WITH YOUR COMPANY
• 8. THE DETAILS OF PLANNING FOR YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
• 9. IMPLEMENTING PRODUCTION AND SERVICE CONTROLS: OPERATIONAL PLANNING AND CONTROL
• 10. DAY-TO-DAY OPERATION OF THE QMS
• 11. MAKING SURE YOUR QMS WILL WORK AS EXPECTED
• 12. ENSURING YOUR COMPANY PASSES THE CERTIFICATION AUDIT
• 13. BONUS CHAPTER I: 12 STEPS FOR TRANSITIONING FROM AS9100 REV C TO REV D
• 14. BONUS CHAPTER II: RELATED STANDARDS AND FRAMEWORKS
• 15. GOOD LUCK!
• APPENDIX A – CHECKLIST OF MANDATORY DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED BY AS9100 REV D
• APPENDIX B – DIAGRAM OF AS9100 REV D IMPLEMENTATION
• APPENDIX C – INFOGRAPHIC: AS9100 REV C VS REV D – WHAT HAS CHANGED?
• APPENDIX D – SPECIAL TERMS IN AS9100 REV D
• GLOSSARY
• BIBLIOGRAPHY