Since 1996, Specialty Ring Products has been an AS9100 certified as a manufacturer of seamless rolled rings. AS9100 is the international quality management system (QMS) standard for the aerospace industry, providing suppliers with a system to ensure they produce safe and reliable products according to civilian and military aviation requirements.
Why is AS9100 Certification Important?
It’s not really that this certification is important so much as it is vital for anyone working with aerospace manufacturers and suppliers. Most firms in this sector won’t do business with a company unless they have AS9100 certification.
In fact, NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense and aerospace giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin all require suppliers to achieve AS9100 certification.
In addition, AS9100 offers a global aerospace manufacturing standard the entire industry can concur with. As Quality magazine noted last year, AS9100 shares many of the same standards set forth in ISO 9001, including:
- Quality-focused leadership
- Face-based decision making
- Mutually-satisfactory relationships with suppliers
- Continuous improvement
- Improved quality consistency with traceability
However, there are four key requirements in AS9100 designed specifically for the aerospace industry:
1. Planning for product realization
AS9100 puts an additional emphasis on risk management and assessment “in the project and configuration management aspects of production and control of work transfers between facilities and suppliers,” Quality writes.
2. Purchasing/Purchased product
These requirements deal with supplier control, including information presented to vendors and controls placed on purchased products that could be released prior to verification.
3. Design and development
This section involves the steps for design verification and validation along with rules for documentation and testing on both stages.
Design verification involves crafting a piece on paper and calculating all specifications, inputs, metrics and regulations to see where the product meets – or needs to meet – industry expectations.
Validation involves the formation of a prototype – a first production unit or engineered model – to illustrate the initial run of a new and complex design.
4. Product monitoring and measurement rules
These regulations cover quality measuring capacities, including measures for rejection and for non-conforming processes.
In 2018, Revision D added the following elements to AS9100:
- Product Safety
- Counterfeit Parts Prevention
- Risk clause was merged with the new ISO 9001 risk requirements along with an increased emphasis on risks in operational processes
- Awareness clause was added with reinforced requirements for awareness of individual contribution to product and service quality and safety along with ethical behavior
- Human Factors are included as a consideration in nonconformity management and corrective action
- Configuration Management was clarified and improved to address stakeholder needs
In large part, due to Specialty Ring Products’ adherence to the requirements of AS9100, SRP is recognized as a leading supplier of quality forged rings for the aerospace industry.
As such, we are dedicated to continuously enhancing our level of products. It’s not only what AS9100 requires, it’s what our customers have come to expect.
Contact us today to request a forging quote.