The AS9100 Quality Management System Implementation: A Useful Guide

This article will explain the AS9100 standard for aerospace quality management and what aerospace businesses should do to get it implemented.

AS9100 is the globally recognized standard for Quality Management System (QMS) of aviation, space, and defense industry, together called the aerospace industry. The standard provides requirements and principles to all industry players i.e., manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and service providers to build the right Quality Management System (QMS) for providing safe and dependable products. Achieving the AS9100 certification is useful for them to sustain as a part of the industry supply chain by proving compliance of their products with quality and safety requirements.

Aerospace businesses need to implement the QMS adhering to the AS9100 requirements! Meeting them is not a simple journey and this article provides a quick elaborative guide on the implementation of the AS9100 quality management system.

Steps to Implement the AS9100 Quality Management System in Your Aerospace Business

To make your aerospace business eligible for the AS9100 certification, you need to implement a QMS supporting the principles and requirements of the standard. Here is how to do it.

Performing a Gap Analysis

The gap analysis is an inherent step to determine the changes required in your existing quality management system. It is a thorough evaluation of different aspects of the quality system to find out which AS9100 requirements are already met, which are just partially met, and which aren’t at all. To properly conducting the analysis, you can appoint dedicated consultants who can inspect your system to find the weaknesses and gaps against the standard. They will also eventually provide essential recommendations and educate your employees about the changes they should bring in the QMS and get accustomed to. You can also perform the gap analysis following a checklist. The list includes the requirements of the AS9100, presented as a question that you need to answer while evaluating your current system.

Plan the Implementation Steps

After evaluating the gaps, you need to then begin with planning for QMS implementation. It starts with determining the scope of your QMS. The scope shall decide the elements that should be incorporated into the QMS. To determine the scope, you need to first evaluate the context of your aerospace business i.e., how various requirements or aspects of the QMS apply to your business’s processes or products.

Since the standard is flexible and tailored to meet different types of aerospace businesses, there is another crucial step in planning. It involves deciding which sections or requirements of the standard can be applied to the QMS of your business and which are not needed. Therefore, depending on the scope of your QMS, you can determine the time, resources to be deployed (including personnel) and costs required to design, develop, and implement the QMS.

Educate the Employees to Implement the QMS

When the implementation plan is ready, it is time to educate your employees about the AS9100 QMS. The employees should be well trained to be able to work with the QMS so that its purpose and intended objectives for your business are realized. Offline and online training, learning sessions, group meetings, and discussions are some of the effective ways to educate and adequately train your employees to make sure the QMS gets implemented.

Document the QMS Manual

Any certification needs formal evidence of its procedures and practices. Similarly, to successfully get the AS9100 certification, the biggest step is creating a document or manual of your QMS. The document should include a detailed description of the requirements of AS9100 and whether your business is meeting them with the implemented QMS. The auditors who would come to assess the QMS before providing certification will also need evidence of your standard compliance. Therefore, they shall go through the documented manual to check that your processes are truly complying with the AS9100 requirements.

Go for Registration and Audit

This is the last step but a very crucial step that takes place after you have implemented the QMS, and it is operating competently in your business. To achieve the certification, you need to find a registrar or certification body that will perform the certification audit, in two formal phases. In the first phase, they will check the documented processes of your QMS to ensure AS9100 compliance. In the second phase, they will check through the QMS processes to ensure that everything that is documented is actually put into practice.

With these simple methodical steps, you can get your aerospace business AS9100 certification ready, no matter the size or types of products it offers. The certification is not just a formal recognition that will help your business to gain prominence in the vastly competitive and highly regulated industry. However, it will also help with many internal benefits such as reduction in errors and reworks, prevention of counterfeit parts, operational efficiency, product consistency, and cost-efficiency.