Volume 6 · Issue 4 · April 2001

Contents

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News from the IAQG Meeting in New Orleans
Revised AS9100 to Be Published in June 2001

Aerospace quality standards have entered the 21st century. On March 22, 2001, at the first meeting of the General Assembly of the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG), the IAQG’s leadership announced the "publication" of AS/EN/JIS Q 9100:2001, Quality Management Systems–Aerospace–Requirements, which is expected to be available in June 2001. AS/EN/JIS Q 9100:2001 will co-exist with AS/EN9100:1999, Quality Systems–Aerospace–Model for Quality Assurance in Design, Development, Production, Installation and Servicing, and will accomplish the alignment of aerospace-sector quality management system (QMS) requirements with ISO 9001:2000. An IAQG press release on the General Assembly meeting in New Orleans is reprinted on page 18.

A working meeting of the IAQG was held March 20-21, 2001, at which the IAQG membership reviewed the current status of several IAQG and sector projects, including the completed final draft of AS/EN/JIS Q 9100 that was ratified during the working meeting.

As noted by the changes to its title, not only does the revised aerospace standard reflect the title of ISO 9001:2000, Quality Management System–Requirements, but it will replace AS9100 in the Americas and European Norm (EN) 9100 in Europe and will also be adopted by the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC) and published as Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) Q 9100.

JISC adoption of Q 9100 means that all Asia-Pacific aerospace primes and their suppliers will recognize and most likely use the aerospace QMS requirements standard. For instance, JIS Q 9100 is being adopted by the Japanese Defense Agency (JDA), according to Dale K. Gordon, Director-Quality and Business Improvement, Rolls-Royce Corporation, Defense North America unit. Gordon is the Americas Aerospace Quality Group (AAQG) Chairman and leader of America’s writing team for AS/EN/JIS Q 9100 and its predecessor.

Although the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC) participated in the development of AS/EN9100:1999, the adoption of JIS Q 9100 as a Japanese standard signifies the success of efforts to expand the membership of and enhance the participation in the IAQG by aerospace primes and suppliers in the Asia-Pacific Rim region.

"IAQG completion of AS/EN/JIS Q 9100 means that harmonization of aerospace QMS requirements amongst all the international members of the IAQG has been accomplished, and a single set of standards will be used in the aerospace sector globally," declared Gordon.

"The transition from AS9100:1999 to AS/EN/JIS Q 9100:2001 will coincide with the transition to ISO 9001:2000 for organizations holding ISO 9001/2/3:1994 certificates of registration," advised Eugene Barker, a Boeing "Fellow" and former leader in the AAQG, who now leads the IAQG writing team that is aligning the AS9100 standard with ISO 9001:2000. The ISO 9001:2000 transition period will apply as well to organizations registered to AS9000:1997.

The first meeting of IAQG’s General Assembly and the completion of the ISO 9001:2000-aligned revision of the aerospace QMS conformance standard comes at a time when many aerospace primes and major suppliers are increasingly establishing conformance and/or registration requirements for their suppliers involving AS/EN/JIS Q 9100.

As discussed below, the groundwork was only recently completed to permit registration and to permit it globally.

Alignment With ISO 9001:2000 But No Major Changes

Until recently, the only aerospace sector-specific registration scheme was in the Americas and involved registration to AS9000, not AS9100 or EN9100. Only 54 organizations in Canada, Mexico and the United States were reported to be registered to AS9000 as of November 2000, according to the World Preferred Registry. It is likely that others have quality systems in conformance with the requirements of AS9000 or AS9100, and these organizations will need to make the transition to AS9100:2001.

First drafted by the AAQG and published by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) as AS9000 in 1997 and revised and published in November 1999 by SAE as AS9100 and by AECMA as EN9100, some in the aerospace supply chain have been wondering if the latest revision might involve changes to the sector-specific requirements. "There have been no substantial changes to the aerospace-unique requirements," replied Gordon when asked about the types of changes in AS/EN/JIS Q 9100.

"They have simply been reformatted to fit into the structure of ISO 9001:2000. AS9100:1999 contained the verbatim text of the quality system requirements section of ISO 9001:1994, and 9100:2001 will contain Sections 4 to 8 of ISO 9001:2000, which contain the QMS requirements. We expect publication in June through SAE in the Americas, AECMA in Europe and SJAC in Japan." [Editor’s Note: THE OUTLOOK will refer to the standard as AS9100:2001 when discussing US usage.]

Gordon provided information about AAQG’s progress in developing two AS9000 supplemental registration standards for specialized organizations, including:

• AS9110, Quality System Requirements for Aerospace Maintenance & Repair Facilities–the AAQG expects to complete work on the standard by the fourth quarter of 2001 (4Q01). AS9110 will be based on ISO 9001:2000, as is AS9100:2001, and will be equivalent to EN9110, which the AAQG "is catching up with". JISC and the Asia-Pacific region have no plans at this time to introduce an equivalent standard.

• AS9120, Quality System Requirements for Aerospace Distributors–the AAQG also expects to complete and publish this standard by 4Q01. As with AS9110, it will be based on ISO 9001:2000. The AAQG is presently attempting to do two things with AS9120–harmonize it with EN9120, which already exists, and develop it so as to replace SAE’s AS7103. In addition, the JISC is planning to develop a JIS9120 that will likely be equivalent to the two other versions.

The following AS9000 guidance standards and documents are already available:

• AS9101, A Common Checklist for AS9100:1999. Note: It is in the process of being updated for use with AS9100:2001

• AS9102, Guidelines for the First Article Inspection Process

• AS9103, Guidelines for the Component Proving Process (key characteristic control)

• Nonconformance documentation–common forms for submittal of nonconformances.

To obtain information about their prices and availability or to order them, contact SAE by phone (724-772-8510) or visit SAE’s web site (www.sae.org).

Will Aerospace Registrations Take Off?

Demand for AS/EN9100 registration in the aerospace supply chain has not existed until now for three reasons that have now been addressed by the IAQG and its participants:

• AS/EN9100 was not aligned with ISO 9001:2000, even though it was known when it was published in November 1999 that ISO 9001 would be revised within a year. According to the World Preferred Registry, as of November 2000 there were 518 North American registrations to ISO 9001/2:1994 within the Aircraft and Aircraft Parts SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) Code category, of which 54 also involved AS9000 registrations (10.4%). The low North American registration rates may be attributable in part to the desire to hold down registration costs by waiting for both ISO 9001 and AS9100 to be revised. Registration upgrades to ISO 9001:2000 by aerospace organizations worldwide are very likely to involve implementation and registration to AS/EN/JIS Q 9100:2001, which will accelerate the ISO 9001:2000 transition and registration to the aerospace standard.

• Registration in the Americas was limited to AS9000–the US’s National Accreditation Program (NAP), administered by the Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB), was the only one qualifying accredited QMS registrars as competent to conduct AS9000 assessments– and was not available at all in the European Union (EU) and other parts of the world where EN9100 is used. That is changing and registration to the new standard should be available worldwide in the near future. "The process for updating the US program of accreditation and qualification to conduct AS9100 registrations was completed in February 2001," explained Gordon, who noted that as of April 16, 2001, there were 3 accredited QMS registrars that have been qualified by the RAB and AAQG to perform AS9100 registrations. "In the EU, an EN9100 process is already in place in the United Kingdom, and there was work at the IAQG meeting in New Orleans to put a global process in place, but we are not there yet. We expect most of the work to be completed this year." The completion of a worldwide registration scheme would permit suppliers to register, particularly if they have facilities in multiple countries and want to implement a corporate-wide QMS.

• Customer requirements for AS/EN9100 use by their suppliers has, until recently, been muted and limited to conformance. Gordon indicated that this is also changing. "At the IAQG meeting in New Orleans, we determined that 54% of the membership of the IAQG has made AS/EN9100 a requirement, internally and externally." The IAQG has more than 40 members, including Airbus Industrie, Boeing Corporation, Bombadier, British Aerospace Enterprise (BAE) Systems, Embraer Aircraft (Brazil), Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce Corporation. Thus, having more than half of the membership, which consists of primes and major suppliers (e.g., GE Aircraft Engines), establish requirements and deadlines for conformance and/or registration is likely to lead to significant registrations to AS/EN/JIS Q 9100 once it is possible for aerospace facilities worldwide to obtain registration.

Lori Scheid, Manager of Registrar Accreditation at the RAB, indicated that RAB has worked with the AAQG to complete the qualification process for three registrars to permit them to conduct AS9100 assessments: BVQI, Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance and National Quality Assurance USA. Qualification involves QMS accreditation by the NAP and the meeting of aerospace and AS9100 competency criteria established by the AAQG.

Gordon indicated that the IAQG believes that what it has accomplished in the past few months will set the stage for greater quality assurance among both primes and their suppliers. AS9100:2001 and its EU and Japanese equivalents will increasingly prevent nonconformances from occurring and promote variation reduction in the supply chain, thereby reducing waste and production and servicing costs, and refocusing attention on improving the effectiveness of the QMS and the product itself.

The significant turnout of suppliers for the IAQG General Assembly meeting indicates an interest in AS9100 and the work of the IAQG as a whole. "Those invited suppliers that attended the meeting agreed that the IAQG is the first time that real progress has been made in getting the industry together on common requirements," concluded Gordon. "It should be supported to drive the industry forward."

THE OUTLOOK will provide additional information on AS/EN/JIS Q 9100 once the editions are published.

Reprint of I.A.Q.G. News Release Dated March 29, 2001
Quality Is Top Priority at Recent Aerospace Industry Meeting

By all accounts, the first General Assembly meeting of the International Aerospace Quality Group (I.A.Q.G.) was a big success. Frank Paskiewicz, of the Federal Aviation Agency, summed it up when he said, "The I.A.Q.G. can really make a difference in improving quality issues throughout the supply chain. I am giving it my full support."

Comprised of over 40 of the world’s leading aerospace manufacturers, the I.A.Q.G. is a working group whose objectives include the continuous improvement of safety and quality in Aerospace products by:

• Establishing common aerospace industry quality standards, requirements and practices.

• Establishing a process of continuous improvement throughout the aerospace supplier base.

• Establishing methods to share the results of audits, inspections and supplier performance metrics.

Attended by 190 representatives of aerospace suppliers from the Americas, Asia and Europe, the purpose of the March 22nd meeting in New Orleans was two-fold:

1) to communicate to the aerospace industry supplier base on the activities of the I.A.Q.G. and,

2) to listen to their views on how we can jointly improve quality and safety.

The I.A.Q.G. announced publication of a common quality system standard for aerospace companies as well as common methods for the conduct of first article inspections and variability reduction programs for key characteristics. Following a lively discussion, small group sessions were held to afford suppliers an opportunity to express their views directly to I.A.Q.G. representatives. The clear result was a common desire to reduce redundant audits and continue to develop and implement commonality in requirements.

The next I.A.Q.G. General Assembly is already being planned for June 28, 2001 in Berlin and will be followed by a third session in Kyoto, Japan, in March of 2002.

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