The Importance of an AS9120 Certification for an Aerospace Company

Product quality and customer satisfaction pave the way for business success. Progressive and highly competitive companies dare to up the ante by setting up quality systems within their organizations for the purpose of getting themselves audited by certified assessors, such as the respected International Standards Authority, Inc (ISA, Inc.), for its issuance of ISO certifications. The AS9120 certification, for instance, outlines the fulfillment of standards under its Quality Management System (QMS) for aerospace product distributors to ensure that parts, materials, and assemblies are manufactured according to internationally accepted benchmarks for product safety and reliability. Aerospace product distributors appreciate the increasing demand from customers to show proof of AS9120 certification. Customers want to be sure that the companies from whom they purchase materials have met industry standards of quality and reliability. A company that has registered itself for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification must also appreciate the benefits of passing an audit by a team of accredited QMS assessors. Explains eHow contributor, Osmond Vitez, in his article for the website:

“QMS are used by business to ensure that their operations, products and services meet or exceed consumer demands. The results of QMS are reviewed by corporate management to see where improvements may be needed. While QMS may be implemented in different ways among industries, the fundamental concepts are the same.”

The advantages of meeting the QMS requirements set forth by AS9120 are many. First, undergoing the audit helps focus and realign a company’s processes that can lead to increased traceability and control of records. Second, the system encourages companies to keep adjusting their approaches to match international requirements. Third, it improves product deliverability while maintaining conformance to specifications, which assures customers that they are receiving the best products available. Fourth, being AS9120-certified for product quality—and being recognized for it—opens up a larger market for the company’s products in the global aerospace industry. However, being issued an AS9120 certification is not cut-and-dried. A company has to choose an ISO Registrar to do an audit of the firm. It is important to select an accredited entity of certified assessors or auditors with extensive experience in the industry sector to which the company belongs. QMS auditors, such as those from International Standards Authority, Inc. (ISA, Inc.), must at all times maintain their integrity, objectivity, and impartiality for company auditees to take every opportunity to improve their systems—and for consumers to continue to view such certifications in high regard. The auditing process itself can take time, and is performed in two stages; an internal audit is performed by in-house auditors, and another one performed by outside auditors. ISO standards evolve and most companies certified previously have to subject themselves to regular full and partial audits of their systems to check for continuing compliance of existing and new requirements. (Source: The Importance of Quality Management Systems, eHow)