A Quality Management System is a collection of a company's policies, processes, and records that tries to paint a picture of how a company will best operate in providing products and services to its customers.
In addition, a QMS needs to fit a company's needs. AS9100 details a set of guidelines to make sure that all essentials are covered, ensuring maximum efficiency.
An effective QMS adheres to seven specific quality management principles: customer focus, leadership importance of top management, engagement of people, the process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making, and relationship management.
You can find out more information about these principles here.
How AS9100D is different from previous revisions
AS9100D is different from the three previous revisions in five primary ways:
Dramatically altered standards: Over 95 percent of the standard has changed with this revision, making the audit process more expensive and extending it to 6 1/2 days.
Changes in important terminology: Many terms, no matter how complex, are becoming universal. For example, "Products" is now expanded to "Products and Services" with the intent of making a manufacturer or distributor sound as if it has more capabilities.
Major emphasis on accountability: It's essential to ensure that all technology is safe, secure, and adaptable, especially when providing technology to people who put their lives at risk to protect our country. There is a renewed dedication to supplier oversight, delivery support, and supply chain management.
Increased attention to counterfeit parts: According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 2 percent of the 26 million parts installed on airplanes every year are inauthentic, and manufacturers often are unable to detect them. To help prevent the use of counterfeit parts, AS9100D makes the following suggestions:
A shift toward the collective: This standard also looks to foster a more collaborative and holistic work environment instead of isolating workers and discouraging collective efforts. This new focus on collaboration teaches workers to think in terms of "we," not "I," especially when acting in consideration of others.
In addition to changes in standards, there are also five key terms used throughout the entirety of the document that companies should pay attention to so that they can develop an acceptable QMS for the aerospace industry:
Counterfeit part: An inferior part that is sold under the pretense of being another part. "Counterfeit" includes modified parts, imitation parts, or faulty parts. Counterfeit parts have become more common in recent years, with sellers distributing parts that do not come from an approved producer, making parts out of the wrong material, or taking used parts and making them seem as if they are new or different. For example, if a system demands a 64 GB memory chip, but the chip is a 32 GB chip disguised as a 64 GB chip, that can lead to severe problems.
Critical items: This includes the functions, software, processes, parts, and characteristics of a company's products and services that have a significant effect. These items demand specific actions to ensure that such products and services work. Some characteristics may include fracture-critical or mission-critical items, and some effects may consist of safety, performance, form, fit, function, producibility, or shelf life.
Key characteristics: Features that a company must identify and control, so they do not tamper with the form, fit, function, performance, service life, or producibility of that company's products or services.
Product safety: The state in which a product can perform its intended purpose with little risk of harm to persons or property.
Special requirements: These are requirements that the customer or the company have identified as having a high chance of not being fulfilled, such as the timely delivery of a large project with a short timeline. The process for operational risk management must include these requirements. When identifying such requirements, there are many things to consider, such as the complexity of the processes, maturity of the products and services, and past performance.
AS9100 certification occurs after a third-party independently verifies (audits) a QMS against the AS9100 standard and confirms that the system's processes match planned arrangements, the operations of a QMS to provide products and services to customers. The certification confirms that a company's system is compliant, relieving customers of the duty of verifying that company's QMS on their own.
Important to note: Each AS9100 certification derives from the latest revision to the AS9100 standard. For instance, an "AS9100 Certified" organization falls in line with AS9100 Revision D.
Before a third party can conduct an audit, an organization must thoroughly evaluate its own QMS after implementing the AS9100 standard. Here's how:
Conduct an internal audit: This allows a company to check that all of its processes meet the planned arrangements; if they don't, it's up to the company to correct any problems. An audit also enables a company to identify any weaknesses within its QMS.
Management reviews: This allows leaders to verify a company's QMS is compliant and, as a result, correctly assign resources.
Corrective action: If there's a problem, a company needs to find the root cause and eliminate it.
After a company conducts a review, a third party performs a documentation audit to make sure that all documents are compliant with the AS9100 standard. A certification audit is then performed by interviewing employees and reviewing records to ensure that the QMS processes are in line with planned arrangements.
After the certification is complete, a certificate is issued to the organization. This certificate can serve as proof to customers that the company is compliant with the standard.
The timeline for this process varies from company to company, primarily based on how closely a company's QMS processes match planned arrangements and how closely the system aligns with the latest revision to the AS9100 guidelines.
How is AS9100 related to ISO 9001?
Much of AS9100 derives from ISO 9001 standard. Still, there is a primary difference between the two: AS9100 applies specifically to aerospace and defense, whereas ISO 9001 applies to any industry worldwide and is an internationally recognized standard for Quality Management Systems.
The content of AS9100 is the same as ISO 9001, but other requirements address the aerospace and defense industries' needs.
The primary additions to AS9100 are in the sections "Product Realization" and "Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement." The additional sections are for Project Management, Risk Management, Configuration Management, and Control of Work Transfers.
There is also an increased emphasis on product safety, management of counterfeit parts, ethical behavior, and human factors; there are also many updates to the requirements for the Design and Development, Purchasing, Production, and Non-Conforming Product Processes.
AS9102 (Aerospace First Article Inspection Requirements):
AS9102 is a support standard that assists with implementing the aerospace processes of AS9100 and mirrors the ISO 9001:2015 standard.
In AS9100D, there is a requirement for production process validation, also known as first article inspection (FAI). Individuals within an organization partake in a first production run to ensure that the production processes result in a product that meets design needs.
AS9102 provides a best practice process for performing an FAI. Checklists and forms can be helpful tools to complete this inspection.
AS9120 (Quality Management Systems – Requirements for Aviation, Space, and Defense Distributors):
AS9120 provides guidelines for distributors, companies that do not manufacture products but buy them from others and distribute them. These types of companies have different needs than manufacturers.
This standard applies to distributors who obtain products from others and split them into smaller groups or perform inspection and testing before delivery.
Since this standard deals with distributors, processes such as operational risk, product safety, and first article inspections are unnecessary.
Below is a chart that maps out the differences between the three standards: