What is AS 9100 ?
The AS 9100 standard is the quality management standard specifically written for the aerospace industry. It had long been considered by some entities, such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), that the ISO 9000 series of standards were inadequate in terms of ensuring quality and safety in the “high risk” aerospace industry.
The AS 9000 standard, was first published in August 1997 and was written with input from a number of large aerospace prime contractors including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and GE Aircraft Engines and was written against the clauses of ISO 9001:1994.
The current version of AS 9100, Revision B, aligns the standard with ISO 9001:2008 and has extra requirements regarding Regulatory Compliance and the following aerospace-sector specific requirements:
- Configuration management
- Design phase, design verification, validation and testing processes
- Reliability, maintainability and safety
- Approval and review of subcontractor performance
- Verification of purchased product
- Product identification throughout the product’s life cycle
- Product documentation
- Control of production process changes
- Control of production equipment, tools and numerical control machine programmes
- Control of work performed outside the supplier’s facilities
- Special processes
- Inspection and testing procedures
- Methods, resources and recording
- Corrective action
- Expansion of the internal audit requirements in ISO 9001:2000
- First article inspection
- Servicing, including collecting and analysing data, delivery, investigation and reporting and control of technical documentation
- Review of disposition of non conforming product
As a result, ISO 9001:2008 is totally encompassed within AS 9100 with these additional requirements applied specifically addressing aviation safety concerns. It is also the only standard which considers the role of the Regulatory Authorities and so many of the “add-ins” are directly traceable to FAA Regulations FAR Part 21 (Certification Procedures for Products and are directly traceable to FAA Regulations FAR Part 21 (Certification Procedures for Products and Parts), Part 39 (Airworthiness Directives) and Part 45 (Identification and Registration Marking).
However it must be remembered that AS 9100 remains complementary to contractual and applicable law and regulations. Any business implementing an AS 9100 compliant quality system must ensure the additional requirements of their customers, regulatory agencies (FAA, JAA etc) and local, state and national laws are referenced within the systems documentation.
please contact us for more details.
Telephone:- Systems Assured 0843 080 1916.
