AS9120 Certification is a Competency Badge in the Aerospace Industry (Demo)

Boeing recently received a number of criticisms regarding its consideration of hiring additional 200 to 700 employees to supplement their 7,000-strong permanent workforce. Earlier last week, as per the Wall Street Journal, the company has already decided to immediately employ 300 mechanics and inspectors.

Boeing’s Charleston, South Carolina 787 factory has experienced a higher number of behind-schedule jobs involving the airplane’s mid-body section than originally anticipated, requiring it to apply “additional resources” to help flow times progress to a satisfactory level, Boeing CFOGreg Smith acknowledged during a conference call the company held Wednesday to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings. Smith attributed the difficulty to the simultaneous introduction into production of the 787-9 and an increase in rate from seven to 10 Dreamliners per month. On January 24 Boeing announced that it had rolled out the first 787 at the 10-per-month rate. “The most significant structural change in the airplane going from a Dash eight to a Dash nine is in the mid-body,” said Smith. “So to address this we’ve applied additional resources; we know how to do this, and we’ll get those jobs back to what we feel is an acceptable level.”

On a positive point of view, these recent steps by the company will help them meet their target with respect to the time frame for delivering satisfaction to their customers. This crunch time will always generate valuable lessons that ought to be analyzed for improving and maintaining competency in the industry. Speaking of competency, one important thing to consider is AS9120 certification. The AS9120 is the international standard committed to the improvement and assurance of integrity of the aerospace industry. This standard differs from the AS9100 (also a global aerospace standard); AS9120 is a standard for stockist distributors. AS9120 certification services from certification parties like International Standards Authority are for companies selling and distributing aircraft parts and materials. The standard requires strict compliance with ISO9001, so AS9120-certified companies are also ISO9001 certified. (Source: Boeing Acknowledges Charleston Factory’s Struggles, Gregory Polek, January 29, 2014)