AS9100 Rev C Transition Plan

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Aerospace Consultant

As you might be aware the new AS9100 Rev C standard has been releasedso what does that mean for existing AS9100 Rev B Certified Clients? The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) have released the following timeline illustrating this transition, as shown below:

In order to comply with such a timeline, many registrars must complete the following steps as defined by the IAQG:

Step 1:
The IAQG sanctioned training providers must complete the development of the training material that they will present to the worldwide poor of aerospace auditors. The timeline presently shows that the training material will not be available until May 1 2010.

Step 2:

Each aerospace auditor will be required to attend the IAQG-mandated training and be re-certified by successfully completing the training. This training is scheduled to take place from May 1 2010 through July 1 2011. Mnay registrars are moving quickly to comply with this schedule.

Step 3:
Additionally, certain registrars will be required to be re-certified to the new revisions of the AQMS standards by the accreditation bodies such as ANAB. This re-certification will require verification that auditors have successfully completed the mandatory training, as well as the review and approval of operating procedure documents.

Important Dates:
According to IAQG timeline requirements clients have until July 1 2012 to complete the upgrade audit to AS9100 Rev C requirements. Beyond July 1 2012 the AS9100 Rev B standard will be cancelled.
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Frequently Asked Questions: AS9100:2009

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Aerospace Consultant

What is the purpose of the 9100 standard? The 9100 standard on quality management system requirements is intended to be used at all levels of the supply chain. Its use can result in improved quality, schedule and cost performance. This standard is primarily developed for the aviation, space and defense industry, but can also be used in other industries. Who is responsible for updating the 9100 standard? The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) is responsible for the development and maintenance of the 9100 standard. How can you tell the difference between the ISO 9001:2008 text and the 9100 text? The bold, italic text represents the aviation, space and defense specific additions. Where can I find more information about the IAQG and the standards it has published?

The International Aerospace Quality Group website is located at http://www.iaqg.sae.org/iaqg What are the benefits of implementing IAQG quality standards? IAQG members agree to use standards internally and with suppliers One voice, minimize variation, shared resources, reduced duplication and waste Focus on the complete supply chain and stakeholders True global Aerospace cooperation and harmonization Higher quality products at reduced cost Fewer , customer-unique documents System for Third Party approval Shared supplier approval database Recognition by Regulatory Authorities Open sharing of Best Practices Networking with Quality Directors / VPs in Primes and Suppliers Rapid consensus & deployment

Why change the 9100 standard? The AS9100:2009 has been revised to address the following needs: Incorporate ISO 9001:2008 changes Expand scope to include land and sea based systems for defense applications Ensure alignment with IAQG strategy (on-time, on-quality performance) Adopt new requirements based on stakeholder needs Improve existing requirements where stakeholders identified need for clarification, including when a documented procedure is required. Who provided input to the 9100 revision? IAQG and its sector member companies, IAQG Strategy Streams and Teams, suppliers, civil airworthiness authorities, certification/registration bodies, defense industry and authorities, space industry companies, regulatory authorities and trade group associations. What process was used to determine the changes to 9100? The AS9100 team used a project management approach to solicit input and manage the revision as follows: Project Management

Design Specification; IAQG Strategy; AS9100 objectives; Stakeholder inputs; and Web survey inputs Data Mining and Consolidation MCRT (Master Comments Review Template) which was used to collect over 400 comments and proposals. Review Process Review of proposals by the IAQG 9100 team based on the Design Specification (approx. 40% acceptance). Draft coordination and voting 1st draft issue July 2007, 9100 team review October 2007, informal Coordination draft issue November 2007, stakeholders comments review April 2008; formal ballot issue May 2008, vote October 2008; release January 2009. Where can I find more information on the changes to AS9100:2009? 7.1.1 Project Management New requirement for planning and managing product realization in a structured and controlled way. 7.1.2 Risk Management New requirement of implementation of a risk management process applicable to the projects & products; responsibility, criteria, mitigation & acceptance. 7.1.3 Configuration Management Moved from clause 4.3 to clause 7.1 and added details on the different activities to be covered. 7.1.4 Control of Work Transfer Moved from clause 7.5 (Production) to clause 7.1 to add emphasis on having a process to plan and control of transfer activities. Product quality and on-time delivery performance Added requirement for product conformity and on-time delivery to be measured and appropriate actions taken if planned results are not achieved. The intent is to provide a linkage between the QMS and organization performance. Process to be required to address control of Special Requirements, Critical Items and Key Characteristics Key characteristic requirements remain unaltered, but the concept of identifying special requirements (either from the customer or by the organization) which require additional controls (e.g. risk management), that translate into Critical Items, which then may flow to Key characteristics for variation control is new. Formal monitoring of customer satisfaction data Added the requirement to monitor data and to develop improvement plans that address deficiencies. The intent is to promote continuous improvement of the product and customer satisfaction.

Where can I find additional information on the primary changes? IAQG Website http://www.iaqg.sae.org/iaqg/ IAQG AS9100 Deployment Material http://www.iaqg.sae.org/iaqg/organization/requirements.htm#ipr What about the requirements from regulatory authorities, is there any change? A general requirement has been introduced (in 4.1) to address all the applicable statutory and regulatory QMS requirements in the organizations QMS, instead of keeping detailed requirements into chapters. Why was First Article Inspection (FAI) moved to clause 7.5.1.1 and renamed? Production process verification FAI is the requirement to validate the production processes, documentation and tooling and repeat the process when necessary (i.e. when engineering or manufacturing processes change). The requirement was moved from 8.2.4.2 (measurement) to 7.5.1.1 (production) because it is part of product realization and is not intended to be a follow on activity. What is the difference between Key Characteristics, Special Requirements and Critical Items? Special Requirements are those requirements that have high risks to being achieved, hence requiring their inclusion in the risk management process. Critical Items, including key characteristics, are those items that have significant effect on the product realization and use of the product, and hence require specific actions to assure they are adequately managed. Key Characteristics includes an attribute or feature whose variation has a significant effect on product fit, form, function, performance, service life or producibility, that requires specific actions for the purpose of controlling variation. ISO 10007 is referenced after Configuration Management, does this mean it is required? No, ISO 10007 is included in a Note for reference only where additional information on configuration management can be obtained. Do the ISO 9001:2008 changes affect AS9100:2009? Yes. The 9100 standard has been updated to stay consistent with ISO 9001:2008, which will continue to be the baseline. The changes being incorporated into ISO 9001:2008 are considered an amendment and minor in nature. How long will we have to transition to AS9100:2009?

30 months. Companies will be encouraged to upgrade during their scheduled audit cycle. Will auditor and registrar training be available? Yes, the sanctioned auditor training is being developed and will consist of both AS9100 and AS9101 training. Are 9110, 9120 and 9101 going to be updated to continue alignment with 9100:2009? Yes, the AS9110 and AS9120 standards will continue to use AS9100 as their baseline and will follow the release of AS9100 within a six month time-frame. The AS9101 will incorporate AS9111 and AS9121 and be published as one standard. Where can copies of new AS9100, AS9110, AS9120 and AS9101 standards be obtained? There are numerous national and regional standards bodies. Each has their own publication schedule requirements. Our company is currently registered to AS9100 Rev B, but based on the new Scope statement we should be registered to AS9110. Does this mean we will have to change our registration? If an organization needs other QMS standards in addition to AS9100, such as AS9120 (Distributor) or AS9110 (Maintenance) then the additional registration requirements should be determined by customer and regulatory requirements. More than one standard registration may be necessary if the products of the company meet several of the standards Scopes (i.e. a company that manufactures products and also sell maintenance services). Clause 1.2 Introduction outlines the new applicability statements for AS9100, AS9110 and AS9120. Why was the text deleted from Clause 4.2.2 Quality Manual Relationships? The deletion of the requirement to create a document showing the relationship between AS9100 requirements and the organizations documented procedures was seen as adding no value to assuring product quality above the existing ISO text. Users of AS9100 will still need to identify appropriate documented procedures as an inherent part of being audited. The rational is there other ways to show the relationships and we need to be flexible to other methods of achieving the same intended result. Where do I find definitions of some of the terms used in AS9100? IAQG Dictionary has a wide range of definitions and includes definitions from ISO 9000:2005. The AS9100:2009 uses both of these sources in lieu of adding definitions to the standard.
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OASIS DatabaseHow can it help?

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Aerospace Consultant

Many of us in the aerospace community have come to know the value of data in the Online Aerospace Supplier Information System (OASIS), a reliable resource for aerospace supplier certification and registration data housed and maintained by SAE International. The OASIS database is available to everybody at www.sae.org/oasis. You have to register to have access to it, but it is free. The OASIS database includes the accreditation bodies approved for the process, the certification bodies accredited for the scheme, all of the auditors approved for the aerospace scheme and, finally, the certified suppliers. The database contains information about the certified suppliers registered to the aerospace standards AS9100, AS9110, and AS9120. Key Changes in the OASIS database in 2009. If the status of a certification bodys accreditations is changed to Withdrawn/Expired, OASIS will automatically change the status of all the Certified supplier certificates to CB Withdrawn/Expired, for the certificates issued by that certification body (CB) and identified as the latest certificate for that supplier. Users will be able to give feedback directly to a certification body without first finding the supplier in the Certified Supplier Directory. When a user is giving feedback to a certification body about a specific selected supplier in the Certified Supplier Directory, a courtesy copy to the supplier will no longer be required. When entering re certification audit data into the OASIS database, certification bodies can now select if each site in the assessment was assessed. The administrator doing the data entry for a Certification Body will now get a copy of the outgoing e-mails to the supplier administrator when requesting a new supplier setup. The certification body listing in the Data Search section of OASIS will now include the status for each family of standards (AS9100, AS9110, and AS9120) on the main page. These changes will make information viewed or entered in OASIS a bit more user-friendly. Given the changes to the AS9100 standard, there will be more changes to come in 2009.
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AS 9100 Rev C Released What it means?

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Aerospace Consultant

The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) released revision C to AS9100 Aerospace Standardfor the aviation, space, and defense industries. Similar to the recent release of ISO 9001:2008 (which was more of an amended version), AS9100:2009 will have considerably more modifications. The new requirements are intended to make significant improvements in quality and cost reductions throughout the value stream. The AS9100 Standard includes several new requirements and clauses that focus on planning, project management, and risk management. Its trajectory will also traverse on-time delivery performance, formal monitoring of customer satisfaction trends, and formal plans to ensure continual improvementall are mission critical. IAQGs mission is to dramatically raise the ontime, on-quality, delivery performance across all three industry sectors. AS9100 Standard Background In todays day of age if your organization wishes to participate within the aviation, defense and space industries, organizations must comply with AS9100. AS9100:2009 now includes the requirements of the QMS standard, ISO 9001:2008, plus additional requirements imposed by the aerospace, aviation, and defense industries. The foundation for AS9100:2009 is the newly amended ISO 9001:2008 Standard in addition to additional requirements which places additional emphasis on structured design and validation methodologies, configuration management, and identification and traceability. IAQG is the lead organization responsible for revisions. The first draft of the AS9100 revision C was developed in July 2007 and was sent to all stakeholders in November 2007. The IAQG 9100 rewrite team met in April 2008 to address all comments. The formal ballot draft was released in May, and the official release was on January 15, 2009. AS9100 Rev C 5 Main Objectives: Incorporate ISO 9001:2008 changes Expand the scope to include aviation, space, and defense, as well as land- and seabased systems for defense applications Ensure alignment with IAQG strategy On-time and On-time Quality Delivery (OTOQD) Adopt new requirements based on stakeholder needs Improve existing requirements where stakeholders identified a need for clarification, including when a documented procedure is required Transitioning to AS9100:2009 Although several months have passed since the release of AS9100:2009, the transition details are still being finalized.

Both revisions AS9100 Rev B will remain current for more than two years. The IAQG has proposed a maximum 30-month implementation schedule from date of publication, However AS9101 Rev D, the QMS assessment standard, hasnt yet been approved and this assessment standard is what is used by Registrars for the purposes of Aerospace Auditor training. The Aerospace Auditors require training before they can conduct assessments audits in accordance with AS9100 Rev C. This assessment standard is currently being revised to make it more comprehensive, and to make it easier to facilitate a value-added, process-based audit. Changes, however, are expected to be significant. The ratification of the AS9101 Rev D will take about six-months to develop sanctioned training materials which at this current wont be until early next year (at the earliest) before any certification body can audit to the AS9100:2009 standard. So, third-party auditors cant do anything until AS9101 revision D is finalized and launched. All aerospace auditors (AA), aerospace experience auditors (AEA), and aerospace industry experience auditors ( AIEA) will be required to complete at least three days of training. Most of the sanctioned training will focus on the changes associated with AS9101 revision D, compared with AS9100:2009. This is primarily why we must wait for the release of AS9101 revision D before sanctioned training materials can be developed in earnest. The IAQG will have final approval. Once the assessment standard has been released, the primary focus of the first six months will be to develop auditor training materials. The challenge for the next 12 months will be to train the certification bodies and auditors. This suggests that the earliest opportunity for organizations to be registered to the new standard (early adopters) will be about six or seven months from publication of AS9101 revision D. During the next 12 months, all organizations that havent opted for early adoption will need to upgrade to the AS9100:2009 at their next surveillance audit or re certification. It appears that the maximum allowed time to upgrade will be 30 months from publication of AS9101 revision D; after that, any certifications that are still to AS9100 revision B will no longer be valid. Detailed transitioning requirements will be available at or around the time AS9101 revision D is officially released. Benefits of AS9100:2009 registration Increased opportunities and acceptance within the global aerospace, aviation, and defense supply chains Improved service to customers, and enhanced customer/supplier relationships Improved process effectiveness and product quality

 Reduced cost of doing business resulting from standardization of compliance requirements Accelerated growth of sales through unique differentiation (i.e., value proposition) Reduced external (customer) audits and site visits Inclusion in the Online Aerospace Supplier Information System (OASIS) database Overview of the changes Revision C changes to AS9100 include: 1. Expansion of scope statement to include Aviation, Space and Defense; 2. Changes to the design specification; 3. Greater focus on planning and project management; and additional emphasis on risk management and mitigation. 4. ISO 9001:2008 changes have also been incorporated. 5. Addition of new term Special requirements are requirements identified by the customer or requirements which have high risk to the organization. 6. Addition of new term Critical Items are for example processes, characteristics, parts and software which have significant impact on the product realization & use of product. Look out for Paradigm Consulting Inc. FREE Whitepaper of the differences between AS 9100 Rev B vs. AS 9100 Rev C (www.paradigmcorp.ca) Registration Trends: Outsource internal auditing to consultants. Companies have found that outsourcing internal audits can be productive and cost effective. In-house, part-time internal auditors typically dont perform audits frequently enough to be totally effective. And they dont have the advantage of diverse field exposure conducting process-oriented audits. NASA is a good example of an organization that has embraced this trend. Future auditing considerations The IAQG is also considering a new category of auditing. In addition to registration, surveillance, and re certification audits, there will likely be a new special audit. A prime contractor, for example, can request that a registrar conduct a special audit, at any time, for one of its under performing suppliers. Registrars will need to work even closer with their clients. Also, expect to see a clause or two in the teams proposals detailing this new special audit requirement. On a final note, the AS9100:2009 provides the framework for a fundamental business model. Its the foundation upon which to build a competitive, customer-centric enterprise. If you think its just another standard that can be taken lightly, think again. AS9100 makes a strong business case. That translates to improved business results and a sustainable competitive advantage. Remember: Its a matter of survival.