AS9100
is the quality management system (QMS) standard specific to the aerospace
industry. The current version, AS9100C published in 2010, includes the ISO 9001
standard verbatim and adds supplementary requirements that apply to the
aerospace industry.
These supplementary requirements emphasize
areas that impact on process and service safety, quality and reliability for
aerospace products. It is designed to meet the complex and unique demands of
the aerospace industry, from commercial aviation to defense and include several
additional requirements to ISO 9001 that participating aerospace OEM companies
felt were necessary to clearly define their expectations for aerospace
suppliers.
The
requirements within AS9100 are complementary to contractual and applicable
regulations. Those implementing a QMS conforming to AS9100 must ensure that the
specific requirements of their customers, country regulatory agencies (such as
the FAA and the JAA) and local, state and national laws are also referenced
within the system's documentation.
HISTORY
AS9000 (1997) Aerospace Basic
Quality System Standard
As
aerospace suppliers soon found that ISO 9001 (1994) did not address the
specific requirements of their customers, including the DoD, NASA, FAA and
commercial, aerospace companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman, GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney developed AS9000, based on ISO 9001, to provide a
specific quality management standard for the aerospace industry.
AS9100 (1999)
Although
AS9000 satisfied immediate needs, it was recognized that OEMs operate
globally—a trend that would only increase, so a global standard was needed. The
new standardized document, called 9100, was still based on
ISO 9001:1994(E), although it was published separately by each country's
aerospace association or standards body (AS9100 in the U.S). AS9100 added 55
aerospace industry specific amplifications and requirements to
ISO 9001:1994.
AS9100 Revision A (2001), Model for
Quality Assurance in Design, Development, Production, Installation and
Servicing
During
the rewrite of ISO 9001 for the year 2000 release, the AS group worked
closely with the ISO organization. As the year 2000 revision of ISO 9001
incorporated major organizational and philosophical changes, AS9000 underwent a
rewrite as well. It was released as AS9100 to the international aerospace
industry at the same time as the new version of ISO 9001.
AS9100 Revision B (2004), Quality
Management Systems – Aerospace Requirements
As
the period for transition from the 1994 to 2000 standards passed, AS9100B was
released in 2004 as an administrative revision to delete Section 2 of the
Revision A standard.
AS9100 Revision C (2009), Quality
Management System – Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations
The
update of AS9100 from revision B to C is largely to address the following
question: “Our supplier is repeatedly late on delivery and failing to meet our
requirements, how is it possible that they still have their AS9100
certificate?†That is, the AS9100C changes are driven by repeated delivery of
non-conforming product and repeated late delivery by organizations that held
AS9100A/B certifications. Those organizations had documented controls that
conformed to the standard; however, there were insufficient processes in place
to assure effectiveness of those controls. The response in this AS9100 revision
is to elevate the requirements for Risk Management and to make Risk Management
an integrated theme throughout the standard.
AS9100 Revision D (2016), Quality
Management System – Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations
The update of AS9100 from revision C to D includes the full text of ISO 9001:2015. In addition to aligning the structure of the aviation, space and defense requirements to the new structure of ISO 9001:2015, the following key changes were implemented:
- Product Safety was added in a new clause and in other areas
- Counterfeit Parts Prevention was added in a new clause and in other areas (this was already in place in the AS9110 and AS9120 standards)
- 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 correctiv action
- Configuration Management was clarified and improved to address stakeholder needs.
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