I have just been hired as the Quality Manager for a small Aerospace Precision Machining company. We are working towards ISO-9000-2000 and AS9100 certification.
My goal is to eliminate the "Final Inspection" persay. Building quality into the product is essential. I am working towards the system of "Final Inspection" being right at the production process. My inspectors will become auditors (verifiers of the production process). I am in the process of selecting "Key Characteristics". Through processing we will achieve the customer requirements. Customer characteristics will be "Bought Off" so to speak on the production floor. Final Inspection will be performed on the production floor and customer characteristics are created.
First Article Inspection and First piece will be performed by the inspection department.

Any thoughts or comments on this system?
Any comments or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

This post was originally in the Production Supervises Inspection Department (http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=12522) discussion thread in the ISO 9001 forum and had gone unanswered.

Reading this first post from Hoeyster may shed some light regarding recent questions and responses Hoeyster has submitted.

Hoeyster, where are you currently with regard to 'working towards ISO/AS certification'?

Aviation Eagles (Cove Members with Aviation ISO/AS experience), depending on Hoester's update (to us) as to where he is in the certification process, please jump in where you can with this post as well as others that Hoester recently submitted.

Thanks,

Muleskinner

I am in the process of selecting "Key Characteristics". OK
Through processing we will achieve the customer requirements. {2} Customer characteristics will be "Bought Off" so to speak on the production floor. {3} Final Inspection will be performed on the production floor and customer characteristics are created. I'm not sure what you mean by the above 2nd and 3rd sentences.

By Key Characteristics I mean process characteristics that are critical to the processing of the piece part. These are characteristics that will be controlled in order to control the manufacturing process.

The role of the final inspector will become the roll of the machine operator. Customer accountablility will be performed during the manufacturing process. Customer requirements will be accepted in real-time during the process instead of at the end in the after the fact inspection. The Final Inspector will become the auditor randomly sampling piece parts during the manufacturing process.
I hope this answers your question Marc.

Muleskinner,
My progress on ISO / AS9100 is extremely slow. I have written rough draft Work Instructions and rough draft procedures. The only thing I have actually accomplished is implementing a "PIT Form" (product identification & traceability) and a Gage Request Submittal Form. As I read the standard and understand or think I understand it anyway lol, I have ore and more questions. My company is fighting this certification tooth and nail so I print out posts of threads to show my boss that what I think are requirements really are. He tends not to believe me or the part time consultant that we hired. I'm hoping he will believe the experts on the standard.

My company is fighting this certification tooth and nail so I print out posts of threads to show my boss that what I think are requirements really are. He tends not to believe me or the part time consultant that we hired. I'm hoping he will believe the experts on the standard.:soap:Not believing his subordinates is common, but not even believing the "expert" he hired is surely wasting his money. Maybe he should just hire someone he believes, but doesn't know **** from shinola. It won't get him closer to rergistration, but he will feel good.(note: I'm in a cynical mood today) Good luck! You have a tough job ahead.

Print out this thread for him at your own risk...:lol:

Hoester, in your original post you mentioned having “just been hired as the Quality Manager for a small Aerospace Precision Machining company”, and “working towards ISO 9001-2000 and AS9100 certification.”

Were you hired to a full-time position? Do you have previous experience as a QM? Do you have considerable background in the Aerospace Precision Machining industry?

On a timeline, where are you (taking into consideration) compliance with the standard(s), implementation of the QMS, gap analysis, document review prior to certification assessment audit, and the certification audit itself?

You ask for “Any thoughts or comments on this system?” Are you asking for thoughts or comments on the ISO 9001-2000 / AS9100 system in general (if so, an extremely broad request), or are you asking for thoughts or comments regarding your “goal to eliminate the “Final Inspection” per say”?

Is the goal to eliminate “Final Inspection” really your goal, or is it one of the objectives of top executive management? In my opinion, this is a really important issue to hash out prior to certification. It’s one thing to establish, document and implement a procedure, and can be entirely another matter to maintain it. As Quality Manager, you will want/need top executive managements full backing on this.

As to your response to Marc about “the role of the final inspector becoming the role of the machine operator”, I’ll leave that one alone for now. I see your point, and maybe Marc or someone else will jump in and offer further comment on this point. As for me, (I’ve always been a part of a MRO organization) mechanics (even if they have inspection authorization) do not inspect (buy-off) their own work. My organization is an FAA certificated repair station.

I am certain, there are others here on the board that identify with you and your extremely slow process of establishing, documenting and implementing a Quality Management System. I spent two years in that mode, from the time my top management said to begin (in addition to contracting a consultant/manual writer), before receiving certification.

Is the “part time consultant” your company hired, in-house, local or distant? Our consultant was 2000 miles away and all consulting (except for a 2 day onsite) was by email, mail and telephone conferencing. Is your consultant writing your manual(s) for you (covering all the SHALL statements) while you construct the work instructions?

You say that, as you “read the standard and understand or think” you “understand it”…”you have more and more questions”. Isn’t it great! Join the club. You are in good company here at the Cove. Continual improvement is the name of the game. Right?

Finally, you say, “My Company is fighting this certificate tooth and nail…” Who in the company is fighting the certification process? The machinists, middle management, top executive management? Does your company pursue ISO / AS9100 certification for the right reason? Or is your company going for certification because of customer demand and/or to have a fancy certificate to hang on the wall?

I cannot find the link at the moment, but Wes Bucey has some excellent articles on the topic of company culture motives for certification. You might try searching for them. Maybe Wes will pop into this thread and provide a link for us.

By Key Characteristics I mean process characteristics that are critical to the processing of the piece part. These are characteristics that will be controlled in order to control the manufacturing process.

The role of the final inspector will become the roll of the machine operator. Customer accountablility will be performed during the manufacturing process. Customer requirements will be accepted in real-time during the process instead of at the end in the after the fact inspection. The Final Inspector will become the auditor randomly sampling piece parts during the manufacturing process.
.

Hoeyster, any chance of a few more details on the ops in question? Is the machine operator carrying out a grinding / milling process etc?

As for your company fighting this tooth and nail..........I've seen this time and time again, a couple of times it has only hit home during the certification audit. As one of these "External Consultants" myself, the last time I came across this in the company in question, I asked the registration body to come in prior to the certifcation audit to do a basic gap analysis.

Dubh12000, thanks for jumping in. Any help and/or insight you can offer is appreciated.:bigwave:

Hoeyster, any chance of a few more details on the ops in question? Is the machine operator carrying out a grinding / milling process etc?

As for your company fighting this tooth and nail..........I've seen this time and time again, a couple of times it has only hit home during the certification audit. As one of these "External Consultants" myself, the last time I came across this in the company in question, I asked the registration body to come in prior to the certifcation audit to do a basic gap analysis.

Great questions Muleskinner and DUBH 12000. Sometimes I don't explain myself clearly.
First of all, yes, I was hired full time to be the QM. I've not previously been a QM but was a supervisor in a couple of different companies. I've been in quality for 20 years, 25 years in Aerospace. Started out as a machinist then moved to quality. I've been under the ISO umbrella since the 1990's, I was on the ground floor of the implementation to ISO 9000.
The elimination of "Final Inspection" is my goal. The first company I was at did just that, we eliminated the role of the final inspector and turned them into auditors. Yes I agree it is a top management decision to go this route and actually I wasn't going to approach this task until after certification, I jumped the gun a bit on this forum.

Our part time consultant is about an hour away from us but I've only been allowed to contact them one time as everytime I consult with him it costs money. That is why I am here at the forum trying to pick peoples brains.
I am writing the Quality Manual, procedures and work instructions. Areas I am unsure about I will send to the consultant to proofread.

As for fighting the certification tooth and nail it's the whole company. They hire me to do this for them then continually fight it. Middle management is the biggest problem. My boss tells us all to work together as a team but I think I'm the only one on the team. One of the middle management reports directly to the president of the company and I report to the VP.
My company is going for certification because our main customer is forcing it on us. My boss wants to do it first before the official mandate comes to us. He has told me he wants to be certified in 18 months. I've already been working on it for 7 months and have only accomplished 2 things. I don't think we're going to meet our 18 month dead line lol.

Yes, I hope Wes does pop into the forum with links to those articles. I have contacted Wes via email in the past about "obliteration". I'm trying to get my company to stop the use of White Out, using pencil on record retainable documents, and initialing and dating strikeouts. This is like pulling hens teeth let me tell ya lol.

Now DUBH 12000 to answer your questions.
The machinists operate CNC Turning Lathes and CNC Milling and Drilling Centers.

I'm trying to get my company to stop the use of White Out, using pencil on record retainable documents, and initialing and dating strikeouts. This is like pulling hens teeth let me tell ya lol.

Now DUBH 12000 to answer your questions.
The machinists operate CNC Turning Lathes and CNC Milling and Drilling Centers.

The white out thing is easy......outlaw it in the work instructions, change the paper to coloured paper and implement ink stamps as sign offs.

I have just been hired as the Quality Manager for a small Aerospace Precision Machining company. We are working towards ISO-9000-2000 and AS9100 certification.
My goal is to eliminate the "Final Inspection" persay. Building quality into the product is essential. I am working towards the system of "Final Inspection" being right at the production process. My inspectors will become auditors (verifiers of the production process). I am in the process of selecting "Key Characteristics". Through processing we will achieve the customer requirements. Customer characteristics will be "Bought Off" so to speak on the production floor. Final Inspection will be performed on the production floor and customer characteristics are created.
First Article Inspection and First piece will be performed by the inspection department.

Any thoughts or comments on this system?
Any comments or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

How did your certification turn out? Just curious!