After ISO 9001, Does Your Business Still Need AS9100 Certification? (Demo)

The world needs more passenger planes in the air. In recent reports, United Technologies Corp. and General Dynamics, two major aerospace companies in the U.S., report a spike in demand in the commercial aerospace industry. Airlines want more sophisticated and fuel-efficient aircraft to supplement their fleet, making more trips for less fuel. Capitalizing on this rising opportunity is Alcoa Howmet, Alcoa’s aluminum division. In late May, it announced its plans to build “the most advanced aerospace facility on Earth” in La Porte, IN to help relieve the massive backlog at Boeing and Airbus. At 320,000 sq. ft., the facility will be big enough (bigger than any facility to date) to fabricate parts for wide-body aircraft like the 747.

“The New York City-based company, which had sales of $23 billion last year, plans to build a second, 320,000-square-foot plant in LaPorte that would produce nickel-based superalloy jet engine parts. The investment is expected to result in 329 new jobs by 2019.”

Even prior to its opening by the end of 2015, the casting facility has already received ISO 9001 certification. As a whole, Alcoa carries three global certifications, which includes AS9100, the aerospace industry variant of the ISO 9001. The Indiana facility doesn’t carry AS9100 as of this time, but carrying ISO 9001 will make AS9100 certification easier. AS9100/ISO 9001 Keep in mind that ISO 9001 is the mother of nearly all standards in existence. Thanks to this quality management standard, it spawned a number of industry-specific standards such as ISO/TS 16949 (automotive), ISO 13485 (medical), ISO/TS 29001 (oil and gas), and TL 9000 (telecommunication). Being an aerospace-specific standard, AS9100 incorporates many elements that can be found in ISO 9001 such as customer satisfaction. If you’ll compare some of the provisions between ISO 9001 and AS9100, you’ll notice that they only differ by several words. However, industry-specific standards also contain entire paragraphs relating to the industry in general. Still Need It? Normally, ISO 9001 certification is already a significant step in reputation. However, its broad range of quality management guidelines make it less suitable to tackle industry-specific issues. Think of it as comparing apples and oranges. Making aircraft parts is different from designing state-of-the-art medical equipment. For businesses in industries with localized standards, certification in this field is an advantage. Adequate AS9100 certification from services like ISA Registrar can make a business an authority in aerospace quality management. Customers will likely put more faith in a business specializing in a field. (Source: “‘Most advanced aerospace facility in the world’ taking off in LaPorte,” Northwest Indiana Times, May 29, 2014)