Aerospace and Defense

AS9100C Rev C for Aerospace, Defense and Space

was released on January 15, 2009. The goal of this release was to dramatically raise the On-Time and On-Quality Delivery (OTOQD) performance in the Aerospace, Defense and Space Industries.

There are four standards that are of interest in the AS9100 Series including:

• AS9100C Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations
• AS9101D Quality Management System Assessment
• AS9110A Requirements for Aviation Maintenance Organizations
• AS9120A Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Distributors

AS9100 Revision C Objectives:

• Incorporate ISO 9001:2008 Changes
• Expand the scope to include aviation, space, and defense as well as land and sea based systems for defense applications
• Ensure alignment with IAQG strategy OTOQD (see above)
• Adopt new requirements based on stakeholder needs
• Improve existing requirements where stakeholders identified a need for clarification, including when a documented procedure is required

For more information on AS9100C, click here

The scope of the standard was increased to include the Aviation, Space, and Defense industries, as well to integrate the ISO 9001:2008 changes. Omnex has identified 26 major and minor changes that organizations with an ISO 9001:2008 implementation need to pay particular focus. There is a significant focus on Planning and Project Management, including a greater role for Risk Management and Mitigation. Associated with managing risks are terms including Special Requirements, Critical Items and Key Characteristics [Click here]. Changes include product quality and on-time delivery performance (OTOQD) and formal monitoring of customer satisfaction data.

Process Approach to Auditing

Omnex has written extensively about the Process Focused Auditing Process in both presentations and publications such as industry articles and books. Process- Focused auditing consists of the following steps:

• Evaluate Customer Focus and Performance
• Conduct Document Review
• Identify Audit Feasibility
• Prepare Audit Plans
• Prepare Process Analysis and Process Audit Worksheets
• Prepare Checklists

Process-Focused auditing begins in the Stage I (Planning Stage) of the Audit where the Process Approach and the Customer Scorecards are analyzed and a Prioritized Audit Plan is prepared. Subsequently, the onsite audit is conducted. For a performance audit, the auditor follows a performance-based approach. Omnex defines a Process Approach to auditing as a "Best Practices" approach.

Transition Deadlines

It is the expectation that all transition activities to the AS9100C standard is completed by July 1, 2011.This includes the training of auditors, changes to the management system, etc. This will allow a one-year period to audit to the AS9100C standard before the previous standard is canceled on July 1, 2012.