Steps to Achieve AS9100 Certification

Did you know that only about 25% of aerospace companies successfully navigate the AS9100 certification process on their first attempt? That's right – three out of four organizations struggle to get this critical quality management certification right the first time. But what if you could beat those odds? Imagine walking into a room full of potential clients, confidently knowing your company has the gold standard of quality certifications. AS9100 is your secret weapon in the cutthroat world of aerospace and aviation.

From Boeing to SpaceX, the big players rely on AS9100 to separate the pros from the amateurs. How to become AS9100 certified is a common question for manufacturers in the aerospace industry. Don't worry if the whole process sounds overwhelming. We're going to break it down into simple, manageable steps that won't make your head spin.  Are you ready to transform your quality management system from "just okay" to absolutely outstanding? Let’s walk you through the essential steps to successfully achieve your AS9100 certification!

Step 1: Understand AS9100 Standards

To understand how to become AS9100 certified, the first step is gaining a solid understanding of the AS9100 standards. Did you know that around 100,000 aerospace sites worldwide have achieved AS9100 certification? This global standard is not just a luxury; it's essential for demonstrating your commitment to quality, safety, and customer satisfaction in the aerospace industry. AS9100 builds on the ISO 9001 framework and adds additional requirements specific to the aerospace industry. These include:

• Risk Management: AS9100 emphasizes the need for a structured approach to identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks throughout the manufacturing process.
• Product Safety: The standard focuses on ensuring that products meet safety regulations and are manufactured to the highest quality standards.
• Customer Satisfaction: AS9100 requires systems to be in place for capturing and addressing customer feedback, ensuring that the customer’s needs and expectations are met.

Understanding these core elements of AS9100 will help you create a foundation for your quality management system (QMS) that meets both regulatory and customer expectations. Once you understand the AS9100 requirements, 

the next step in how to become AS9100 certified is performing a comprehensive gap analysis. This will help you identify areas where your current processes may fall short and need improvement.

Step 2: Perform a Gap Analysis

A gap analysis is an essential first step to assess where your current processes stand relative to AS9100 requirements. This will help identify areas that need improvement before you can begin making adjustments. A thorough gap analysis should cover:

• Documentation and Processes: Do your existing documents, such as SOPs, work instructions, and quality plans, fully align with AS9100 requirements? Ensuring these are up to date is crucial for compliance.
• Internal Audits: Are your internal audits conducted in accordance with AS9100 standards? Make sure you have a system for tracking audit results and implementing corrective actions where needed.
• Risk Management: Are you assessing risks at all levels of your operations? AS9100 mandates a formalized risk management process to proactively address potential hazards and ensure consistent quality.

By conducting a detailed gap analysis, you can uncover the discrepancies that might hinder your certification and create a clear roadmap for meeting AS9100 requirements. Once you've identified the gaps, it's time to take action. 

In Step 3, we’ll walk through how to implement the necessary changes to bring your processes in line with AS9100 standards.

Step 3: Implement Changes to Meet AS9100 Requirements

With a thorough understanding of AS9100 and the results of your gap analysis, the next step is to implement changes to your processes, documents, and systems. Some common changes may include:

• Updating Documentation: AS9100 requires specific documents, such as procedures and records, to prove compliance. This may involve revising existing documents or creating new ones to ensure they meet the necessary standards.
• Enhancing Risk Management Procedures: If risk management isn’t formalized, it needs to be integrated into your processes. This includes documenting risk assessments, developing mitigation strategies, and setting up monitoring actions to proactively manage potential risks.
• Streamlining Production and Workflow Processes: AS9100 demands a well-managed and optimized production system. Ensure your workflows are efficient, well-documented, and aligned with quality standards to maintain consistency and meet customer expectations.

Implementing these changes is crucial to aligning your operations with AS9100 standards. While it may require significant effort, these updates will enhance your quality management system, reduce risks, and improve operational efficiency, setting the foundation for a successful certification process. With the necessary changes in place, the next step is to ensure everything is functioning as it should. 

In Step 4, we'll focus on conducting internal audits and taking corrective actions to confirm your processes are fully aligned with AS9100 standards.

Step 4: Conduct Internal Audits and Corrective Actions

Once your processes are updated, it's time to conduct internal audits to assess your readiness for the AS9100 certification audit. Internal audits are essential for ensuring that all systems, processes, and documents align with AS9100 standards. These audits allow you to identify any areas of non-compliance or inefficiency, giving you a chance to correct them before the certification audit. Here’s how to approach this crucial step:

• Perform a Comprehensive Audit: Assess every part of your quality management system (QMS), including documentation, procedures, and operational processes. Ensure that your organization is consistently following the standards and that all required records are up to date.
• Identify Non-Conformities: During the audit, look for any discrepancies or deviations from AS9100 requirements. Non-conformities could be as simple as incomplete documentation or more complex issues like gaps in risk management procedures. The goal is to catch these early so that they can be corrected well before your certification audit.
• Take Corrective Actions: Once non-conformities are identified, take immediate corrective actions. This could involve revising processes, enhancing documentation, or improving training programs. Ensure that each corrective action is tracked and implemented effectively.
• Document and Track Changes: For ongoing improvement, it’s essential to document every corrective action taken and track the outcomes. This will not only help you maintain compliance in the short term but also support your long-term commitment to continuous improvement.

Internal audits and corrective actions are key to ensuring that your processes meet AS9100 standards. By leveraging automation, companies can reduce compliance costs by up to 40% and minimize errors during the auditing process. Automated systems help ensure that your internal audits and corrective actions are always on track and aligned with AS9100 standards.

In Step 5, we'll guide you through how to prepare for the official certification audit to ensure you're fully audit-ready.

Step 5: Prepare for the Certification Audit

As you near the end of the certification process, preparing for the certification audit is the final hurdle in how to become AS9100 certified. This step ensures that your company is fully compliant with all AS9100 standards before the formal audit takes place. Once you’ve completed your internal audits and corrective actions, you’ll be ready for the official AS9100 certification audit. This audit is typically conducted by a third-party certification body and will assess whether your organization complies with all AS9100 requirements. Here’s what to expect during the audit:

• Document Review: Auditors will thoroughly examine your documentation to verify it aligns with AS9100 standards, ensuring all required procedures, records, and policies are in place and up to date.
• Process Review: Auditors will evaluate your manufacturing processes to ensure they follow the updated procedures and conform to the AS9100 framework, confirming that your operations meet the required quality and efficiency benchmarks.
• Interviews and Observations: Auditors will interview employees to assess their understanding of the Quality Management System (QMS) and their role in ensuring compliance, checking for alignment between theory and practice on the shop floor.

BPRHub’s ISO Certification Support can be especially helpful during this stage. The platform offers pre-designed, process-ready documents and tools to assist in meeting the requirements for ISO 9001 and AS9100 certification. This support simplifies the preparation process and ensures that all documents are in order for the audit.

Once you've successfully navigated the certification audit, the journey doesn't end there. In Step 6, we'll explore how to maintain your AS9100 certification through continuous improvement and ongoing compliance.

Step 6: Continuous Improvement and Ongoing Compliance

Achieving AS9100 certification is just the beginning. Maintaining compliance requires a commitment to continuous improvement. AS9100 stresses the importance of regularly evaluating and enhancing your quality management system to meet evolving regulations, customer needs, and industry standards. Key elements of continuous improvement include:

• Regular Audits and Reviews: Periodic internal audits are essential for proactively identifying inefficiencies or non-compliances before they escalate. Regular reviews allow you to address issues early, ensuring processes remain aligned with AS9100 standards and continuous improvement.
• Feedback Loops: Actively gathering feedback from employees and customers provides valuable insights into areas for improvement. This helps maintain high product quality, boosts customer satisfaction, and informs necessary adjustments to your processes.
• Corrective and Preventive Actions: Effectively addressing non-conformities with corrective actions ensures immediate issues are resolved. Implementing preventive measures helps mitigate future risks, ensuring sustained compliance and long-term quality management success.

Achieving AS9100 certification doesn’t have to be overwhelming when you have the right support. With BPRHub, we guide you through every step of the process—from understanding the standards to ensuring long-term compliance. Our platform simplifies the audit process, keeps your documentation up-to-date, and helps you stay on track with AS9100 requirements, so you can focus on running your business with confidence.

Is your quality management system built for continuous improvement? With BPRHub, you can maintain AS9100 compliance effortlessly through real-time monitoring and data-driven insights. Visit our Compliance Hub or get in touch at hello@bprhub.com to see how we can help.

While continuous improvement ensures you maintain AS9100 compliance, it's important to recognize the challenges that can arise along the way. Let’s now take a closer look at the common obstacles companies face during the AS9100 certification process.

Challenges in Achieving AS9100 Certification

While the benefits of AS9100 certification are clear, the path to achieving it is not without challenges. Understanding these hurdles upfront can help you better prepare and navigate the certification process. Achieving AS9100 certification is no small feat. In fact, studies show that only 25% of aerospace companies succeed on their first attempt. The rest struggle with challenges like aligning processes with AS9100 requirements, managing extensive documentation, and ensuring full audit readiness. Here are some of the most common challenges manufacturers face:

1. Aligning Existing Processes with AS9100 Requirements: One of the biggest hurdles is aligning your existing quality management processes with the AS9100 framework. Many companies have already established systems, but they may not fully meet the specific demands of AS9100. This can involve overhauling existing workflows, updating documentation, and establishing new quality control protocols.
2. Maintaining Proper Documentation: AS9100 requires extensive documentation that covers everything from risk management to product safety and customer satisfaction. Ensuring that this documentation is accurate, comprehensive, and continuously updated can be an overwhelming task, particularly in larger manufacturing environments.
3. Employee Training and Buy-In: For any quality management system to be effective, it must be embraced at all levels of the organization. Achieving AS9100 certification requires employee engagement and thorough training, which can be resource-intensive. The challenge is not just training employees but ensuring that they continuously adhere to the practices outlined in the QMS.

Navigating AS9100 certification challenges requires the right tools to simplify the process. BPRHub helps manufacturers streamline compliance tasks, manage documentation, and optimize employee training. With BPRHub, you can overcome hurdles more efficiently, saving resources while ensuring successful and ongoing AS9100 certification. Let’s see how it works.

The Role of Automation and Data in Achieving AS9100 Certification

Automation and data are crucial in both achieving and maintaining AS9100 certification. Manual processes for aligning with standards, documenting processes, and training employees can be overwhelming. Automation streamlines these tasks, reduces human error, and boosts overall efficiency.

1. Automating Compliance and Documentation

Document management is one of the most time-consuming aspects of AS9100 certification. Constantly updating and reviewing documents can be a significant burden, especially for manufacturers with large volumes of documentation. Automation helps by:

• Ensuring compliance: Automated systems keep documents up to date, ensuring they meet AS9100 requirements.
• Minimizing errors: Automating document handling reduces the risk of human error and ensures employees have access to the most recent versions.

2. Data-Driven Decision Making

AS9100 requires ongoing monitoring of metrics like product quality, customer satisfaction, and risk management. Data-driven insights help you:

• Identify bottlenecks: Real-time data helps pinpoint inefficiencies and areas for improvement.
• Optimize processes: By continuously monitoring your quality management system, you can make timely adjustments to enhance performance and compliance.

3. Risk Management and Compliance

AS9100 emphasizes proactive risk management. With automated systems and data analysis, you can:

• Monitor risks: Automation makes it easier to identify and assess risks across your manufacturing processes.
• Ensure ongoing compliance: Real-time tracking helps maintain continuous compliance, reducing the risk of penalties and ensuring readiness for audits.

By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to understanding how to become AS9100 certified. Remember, the journey may be challenging, but with the right approach and tools, it’s completely achievable. By integrating automation and data-driven insights into your quality management processes, you can simplify the journey to AS9100 certification and maintain compliance more effectively.

BPRHub’s platform can help by automating compliance tasks, optimizing documentation management, and providing real-time data to drive better decision-making and risk management, ultimately making your certification process smoother and more efficient.

Looking to automate and streamline your compliance processes? BPRHub’s advanced features for automated audits, data analytics, and documentation management can save you time and reduce errors. Reach out today to see how we can simplify your AS9100 journey.

FAQ’s

1. What is AS9100 certification, and why is it important for aerospace companies?

AS9100 is a widely recognized quality management standard specific to the aerospace industry. It builds upon ISO 9001 but includes additional requirements tailored to the unique demands of aerospace manufacturing. Achieving AS9100 certification demonstrates a company’s commitment to quality, safety, and customer satisfaction, making it a crucial certification for suppliers to major aerospace organizations like Boeing and SpaceX.

2. How long does it take to get AS9100 certified?

The timeline to achieve AS9100 certification varies depending on the complexity of your operations, the maturity of your existing quality management system (QMS), and how quickly you can implement necessary changes. On average, the process can take anywhere from 6 months to a year. Companies with more developed QMS may achieve certification faster, while others may need additional time for training, audits, and documentation updates.

3. What are the main steps to achieving AS9100 certification?

To achieve AS9100 certification, follow these key steps:

1. Understand AS9100 Standards: Familiarize yourself with the requirements of AS9100, including risk management, product safety, and customer satisfaction.
2. Perform a Gap Analysis: Compare your current quality management processes against the AS9100 standards to identify gaps.
3. Implement Changes: Revise your documentation, enhance risk management procedures, and streamline your production processes to meet AS9100 requirements.
4. Conduct Internal Audits: Assess your processes through internal audits to identify areas for improvement and ensure compliance.
5. Undergo External Audit: Schedule an official audit with a certification body once your internal audits confirm readiness.
6. Continuous Improvement: AS9100 requires ongoing monitoring and improvement of your QMS to maintain certification.

4. What are the common challenges in achieving AS9100 certification?

Some of the most common challenges include:

• Aligning existing processes with AS9100 requirements.
• Maintaining accurate and up-to-date documentation.
• Engaging employees through thorough training programs.
• Addressing gaps in risk management processes.
• Allocating sufficient resources for internal audits and corrective actions.

Overcoming these challenges requires dedicated time, resources, and commitment across all levels of the organization.

5. What documents are required for AS9100 certification?

AS9100 requires several key documents to demonstrate compliance, including:

• Quality Manual outlining your QMS.
• Procedures and Work Instructions for critical processes.
• Records that prove compliance include audit reports, corrective actions, and risk assessments.
• Risk Management Plans to identify and mitigate risks in the production process.

These documents must be regularly reviewed and updated to remain compliant with the standards.

6. How do internal audits help in achieving AS9100 certification?

Internal audits are a critical component of the AS9100 certification process. They allow you to assess whether your QMS is working as intended and identify areas that need improvement. Regular audits help ensure that your processes align with the AS9100 standards, enabling you to address non-conformities before they impact the certification process.

7. What happens after I pass the AS9100 certification audit?

After successfully passing the certification audit, your company will be awarded AS9100 certification. However, certification is not a one-time event. You will need to:

• Participate in regular surveillance audits (usually annually).
• Continuously monitor and improve your QMS to meet evolving standards.
• Address any new requirements introduced by the AS9100 standard.

8. Can my company be rejected after the AS9100 audit?

Yes, it’s possible to be rejected if your company’s processes do not meet the requirements of AS9100. If deficiencies are found during the audit, you will be given a chance to correct them and schedule a follow-up audit. Common reasons for rejection include incomplete documentation, inadequate risk management procedures, or non-compliant production processes.

9. How much does the AS9100 certification cost?

The cost of AS9100 certification varies based on several factors, including the size of your organization, the complexity of your operations, and the certification body you choose. Typical costs range from $5,000 to $20,000 for the initial audit and certification, with additional costs for follow-up audits and maintenance. It's also important to factor in the cost of training, documentation, and process improvements.

10. Can I get AS9100 certified if I am already ISO 9001 certified?

Yes, companies that are already ISO 9001 certified are in a good position to achieve AS9100 certification. AS9100 is an extension of ISO 9001, with additional requirements specific to the aerospace industry. The gap analysis and subsequent changes will be focused primarily on meeting those additional aerospace-specific standards, such as risk management and product safety.