I am having an issue with production. We are recently registered to
AS9100B. I have been continueing to work on meeting the requirements of section 7.5.1, but the production supervisor is trying to call our dedicated tooling "shop aids"

I am having an issue with production. We are recently registered to
AS9100B. I have been continueing to work on meeting the requirements of section 7.5.1, but the production supervisor is trying to call our dedicated tooling "shop aids"

Darrell - welcome! We hope to be able to help out, but can you give us a bit more information? What's your take on tooling?

Welcome to The Cove, Darrell!

Is the supervisor trying to avoid controls, or does the supervisor disagree with the idea that the toolings are specific enough and critical enough to need controls?

It seems fair to qualify the term Tooling. Here's a short list of minimum considerations that could signal aids or jigs need control as toolings:

Do the toolings belong to the customer?

Do the toolings conform to customer prints/specifications that have numbers or revisions?

Do customers ever ask to see the toolings or review their records?

Do the toolings ever need reviews, maintenance and/or calibration so as to make sure they do not adversely impact product quality?

If none of these are answered "yes," the toolings might indeed qualify as jigs or the euphemistic term "shop aids." But I would include persons besides you and the shop manager on a decision like that. This subject is an element of standards, and a plan for identifying needs for control needs to be established and followed.

We are a manufacturer of machined aircraft parts. The tooling I am concerned with is jigs and fixtures that would be required to make the part. Our manual requires validation, identification, and survailance of tooling. In my mind, fixtures and jigs that are required to build the part fit the definition of tooling, but I am willing to discuss it.

Here are some of the guidlines I use to sort shop aids from tooling.
Can you perform the opperation with out the use of the tool and have the process output in conformance to requirements? If yes the it is a shop aid.
Is the tool required by a design document such as specification? If yes then it is controled tooling.
Is it called out in customer approved planning? if yes then it is controled tooling ( unless referanced as a shop aid in the plannning)
Does it control or affect features that are not verified at some point? If yes then it is controled tooling
Once things get sorted out the other key is to correctly label it.
All controled tooling should be labeled, in the recall system and periodicaly verifed to print
:2cents:

We are a manufacturer of machined aircraft parts. The tooling I am concerned with is jigs and fixtures that would be required to make the part. Our manual requires validation, identification, and survailance of tooling. In my mind, fixtures and jigs that are required to build the part fit the definition of tooling, but I am willing to discuss it.

Typically, jigs and fixtures need to be controlled, as you describe. You've got to know that when they work, they work correctly and not lead to incorrect product quality. It's normal and appropriate to do the validation, identification (not sure what you mean by surveillance). They could be controlled by a process similar to calibration or PM.

Your production supervisor needs to be given some direction from a higher up manager. Unless he's the top manager in production, he needs to be shown that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure - have you experienced a past problem where the tooling was off and it caused a problem; rework, customer reject etc?