AS9100:2009

AN INTRODUCTION

IAQG

AS9100:2009 was prepared by the International Aerospace
Quality Group (IAQG). IAQG was established by industry to
improve quality and reduce costs. It is a global cooperative
organization and is supported by companies throughout the
aviation, space, and defense industries. Currently, IAQG has 67
active signatories and sponsors including Airbus, BAE Systems,
Bell Aerospace, Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Bombardier Aerospace,
GE Aerospace, Goodrich, Gulfstream, Honeywell, Lockheed
Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins,
Rolls-Royce, and United Technologies. Consequently,
AS9100 has broad corporate support.

For a complete list of members see the IAQG website at
http://www.iaqg.sae.org/iaqg/. IAQG members come from
the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.
 

AS9100

AS9100 is designed to be used by organizations in the aviation,
space, and defense industries and can be applied throughout the
supply chain. It is intended for use by organizations that design,
develop, and produce aviation, space, and defense products. It is
also intended for use by organizations that provide post-delivery
support. This includes those that provide maintenance,
materials, or spare parts for their own products.

The 2009 (third) edition of the AS9100 standard was published
with identical content by three IAQG supporters:

1. SAE in the United States for the Americas,
2. ASD-STAN for Europe, Russia, and Africa,
3. SJAC in Japan for the Asia-Pacific region.

Each organization refers to the standard in a different way.
SAE refers to it as AS9100C because it is edition C (the third
edition), ASD-STAN refers to it as prEN9100:2009 (because it was
published in 2009), while SJAC refers to it as JIS Q 9100:2009.

And to further complicate things, IAQG refers to it simply as
9100:2009. They all refer to exactly the same standard. The
content is exactly the same. They’re identical. Consistent with
common practice, we’ve chosen to refer to this standard as
AS9100:2009 or simply as AS9100.

AS9100:2009 is based on the ISO 9001:2008 quality management
standard. Both standards are organized in the same way and
use the same numbering system. The following simple formula
summarizes how AS9100:2009 and ISO 9001:2008 are related:

AS9100 = ISO 9001 requirements + AS&D requirements

AS&D stands for Aviation, Space, and Defense.

While AS9100 is intended for the aviation, space, and defense
industries, it can also be used in other industries. Use AS9110
if your organization or operation provides aviation and military
product maintenance and repair services. Use AS9120 if your
organization procures products and resells or distributes them
to customers in the aviation, space, and defense industries.
 

ISO

ISO is the International Organization for Standardization.
It was established in 1947 and is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
Its purpose is to develop standards that facilitate and support
international trade. ISO achieves this purpose through the
participation and support of its member organizations. These
member organizations currently represent 161 countries.

ISO standards are developed by technical committees.
The people who serve on these committees come from many
countries. Consequently, ISO standards tend to have very wide
support. ISO 9001 was developed by ISO Technical Committee
176, Subcommittee 2. ISO/TC 176 is responsible for “quality
management and quality assurance”, while SC 2 is specifically
responsible for “quality systems”.

For more information, see the ISO website at http://www.iso.org/
or the ISO/TC 176 Committee website at http://www.tc176.org/.
 

ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is a quality management standard. It was first published
in 1987, updated in 1994, and again in 2000. The current version
was officially published on November 15, 2008 and is the fourth
edition of the ISO 9001 standard. It cancels and replaces all
previous editions.

ISO 9001:2008 (and AS9100:2009) defines a set of quality
management requirements. These requirements are specified
in Parts 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The purpose of ISO 9001 (and AS9100)
is to help organizations to establish and maintain a quality
management system (QMS) that complies with these
requirements.

EXCLUSIONS

Part 1.2 of ISO 9001 (and therefore, AS9100) says that you may
exclude or ignore some requirements if you can justify doing so.
Requirements that may be ignored are known as exclusions. You
may exclude selected Part 7 product realization requirements as
long as you meet certain conditions.

You may exclude selected Part 7 requirements if you cannot
apply them because of the nature of your organization or
because of the nature of your products. However, you may
exclude a requirement only if doing so does not undermine
your ability or willingness to meet the requirements set by
customers and regulators or imposed by statute.

In other words, you may not ignore any Part 7 requirement if
doing so will undermine your ability to provide products or
services that meet requirements or compromise your willingness
to accept the responsibility to do so. If you exclude requirements
that should not be excluded, you may not claim to comply with
the AS9100 standard.

Whenever you decide to exclude a Part 7 requirement make
sure that you’ve got a good reason. Make sure that you can
justify why you’ve excluded it, and make sure that this
justification appears in your quality manual.

Overview of AS9100C (2009) Quality Management Standard

AS9100C (2009) Plain English Aerospace QMS Definitions

AS9100C (2009) Standard Translated into Plain English

How to Upgrade to the new AS9100C (2009) Standard

AS9100C (2009) QMS Gap Analysis Tool

AS9100C (2009) Internal Audit Program

AS9100C in Plain English Table of Contents

Our Plain English Approach to AS9100C (2009)

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Updated on October 11, 2009. On the Web since May 25, 1997.