AS9120 Certification Process Upholds Aerospace Industry Standards (Demo)

Heavy competition is underway among a handful of states who aim to outbid Washington as the manufacturing site of the planned Boeing 777X. As Steve Wilhelm reports in in bizjournals.com, however, Washington seeks to strengthen its case through a presentation called “Washington State Strategy to Win the 777X”:

“We’re not making a political case to pressure Boeing to build the 777X in Washington. We are working hard, very hard to make the business case, provide the facts and data, to prove that the state is the best place to build the 777X,” said Alex Pietsch, director of the governor’s Office of Aerospace, in a morning presentation called Washington State Strategy to Win the 777X. Pietsch didn’t actually talk much about winning the 777X, but he did say why it mattered. Data that he showed, from a new study just completed about the impacts of aerospace on the region, indicate that parts for the 777 and assembling it generate 19,800 jobs, second only to the 737, and account for 27 percent of Boeing’s overall Washington employment.

Boeing 777X is going to be the re-engined and lengthened version of the Boeing 777, and is planned to be the largest twin-engine aircraft in the world. Presently, Washington is the site of Boeing’s largest assembly plants, where around 50% of the plane maker’s approximately 172,000 employees (as of 2011) are working. Boeing is also the largest private employer in Washington. Given the amount of business Boeing provides its assembly host-state, it is not surprising that other states are exerting full efforts to lure the company and its aerospace suppliers to enter their borders. The aerospace industry includes not only companies directly involved in the assembly of airplanes, but also firms that manufacture and supply aerospace products and parts. The heavy regulations surrounding the industry require the use of only the highest grade products and procedures with the right quality standard certifications, including the AS9120 certification for product distributors. The prestigious AS9120 certification is awarded only to companies that have met rigid Quality Systems governing the sale and procurement of parts, materials, and assemblies in the aerospace industry. Any organization that wishes to be part of the Boeing machinery must qualify for these industry certifications. Accredited registrars such as the International Standards Authority Inc., assist companies in upgrading their operations, and conduct audits to evaluate a company’s compliance with Certification standards. (From States are scrapping over Boeing 777X and aerospace suppliers, bizjournals.com, Oct. 2, 2013)