AS9100 Consulting – Aerospace Quality Managament

CVG Strategy AS9100 Consulting Team has implemented AS9100D at several companies over the past few years, and its AS9100 Consulting services are focused on helping small- to medium-sized operations.

AS9100 is a quality management system specifically developed for the aerospace industry.   The standard was created in 1999.  Since then it has been widely adopted by manufactures and suppliers in the industry.  It was written by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the European Association of Aerospace Industries. 

It is based on the QMS structure defined in ISO 9001, and includes all of its requirements.  It added however, additional requirements relating to quality and safety.  Many major aerospace manufacturers and suppliers worldwide require compliance and/or registration to AS9100 as a condition of doing business with them.

AS9100 uses the High-Level System (HLS) established when ISO 9001:2015 was released in the fall of 2015.  This HLS allows ease of use between standards and helps companies implement complex multi-standard quality management systems.  CVG Strategy’s AS9100 Consulting Experts have prepared several multi-standard quality management systems for its customers (AS9100D & ISO 9001:2015 & Aerospace Customer Standard, AS9100D & AAR M-1003 [Rail Roads]).

AS9100D was modified to align to match ISO 9001:2015 requirements.  In fact the entire standard is included in the D revision.  Additionally several modifications were added to address key concerns of the aviation, space, and defense industries.  These include:

1. Increased emphasis on Product Safety.
2. Increased emphasis on the requirement for risk assessment in operational processes.
3. Consideration of human factors in the work environment e.g. (distraction, fatigue, lack of resources, lack of knowledge).
4. Improvement in stakeholder requirement assessment through configuration management.
5. A reinforcement for individual awareness of product and service quality and safety.  This also pertains to ethical behavior in the performance of these tasks.
6. Measures to prevent the introduction of counterfeit parts into the supply chain.

Does this apply to my company?

Many Defense companies, in addition to those making aircraft and aircraft components and subsystems, are requiring their suppliers to have an AS9100D Certified Quality Management System.  If you are making parts or providing services for defense systems or components, and you have not had this requirement made yet, it is only a matter of time. 

AS9100 certification is already a hard requirement for conducting business with Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop, Cessna, Embraer and others.  In the past three years, Harris, DRS, L-3, General Dynamics and many other major defense manufacturers and contractors are requiring that their supply chain all have AS9100D quality systems.

What does AS9100 Consulting by CVG Strategy provide?

1. AS9100 Consulting and Training
2. GAP Analysis and Reporting
3. QMS Plan and Schedule
4. Training
5. Preparation of Procedures, Work Instructions, Forms and Policy
6. Internal Auditor Training
7. Coaching
8. Pre-Certification Audit Support
9. Post-Audit Support

There are many AS9100 Consulting firms providing support in AS9100D.    What makes CVG Strategy different is that we have managed supplier in aerospace and defense.  We understand your challenges and are dedicated to tailoring an aerospace management system to meet your specific organizational requirements.  This will allow your organization to continually improve as it grows and ensure that all regulatory requirements are met.

We fine-tune our statement of work depending on your capability and goals.  Many clients have us serve as an advisor while they generate the documentation and implement the program themselves.   Others outsource the Quality Manager role to one of our experts, and we write the complete documentation set and provide all the training.

All CVG Strategy quality experts are Exemplar Global Certified Lead Auditors for AS9100D.