NADCAP: The NEW Watchdog - Has anyone felt the wrath of NADCAP yet?

Has anyone felt the wrath of Nadcap yet? My initial audit is Oct 27-29th. I feel I'm prepared but I have not spoken to someone (outside of a Nadcap Convention) about how their audit went.

Re: Nadcap: The NEW Watchdog

Hello there, Johnny! Thank you for dropping by the Cove! And yes!! There are many that have suffered at the hands of NADCAP. Have you had a chance to review some of our threads on it?

Does anyone have any experience with NADCAP?

NADCAP and Gap Analysis for a Heat Treating facility

Here are two that I found. I do believe I recall Randy Stewart being especially fond of it.

Anyway, it's good you dropped by, and look forward to seeing some of your thoughts on our threads.

It looks like the emphasis has been on not just doing the right things but having procedures in place that actually say to do them.
They are also issuing findings for items identified during the self audit but the C/A not yet in place so try and get as much implemented and in place as you can.
When you take a measurement as a QA record/check make sure that you have the value logged not just pass/fail.

A bit short in time for you to really do anything more at this point in time but since the electronics task group is the new kid on the Nadcap block keep in mind that there is more opportunity for you to challenge findings issued that appear to be based on interpretation. Lightly work your auditor for items you want to challenge while he is on site but as the saying goes know when to fold and save the real push for the staff engineer with pushing for task group review if you think you have a good enough case.
Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Thanks Andy.

I think I am prepared for this. I have spent months re-writing Management Systems, Procedures and work instructions. I went to Pittsburgh for the convention/symposium, in July. I met with a lot of the Prime reps and got some good info from them. There is only one unrestricted auditor (We are heavily ITAR weighted) so that should (shall) hopefully go in our favor. The staff engineer is a young kid and is easily pursuaded. I have found from reading past forums that the auditor will probably just stick to the checklist, which I have painstakingly gone through, item by item, to make sure we are covered. This accreditation will complete our trilogy: DSCC, AS9100 (Scored 98.9% initial audit) and Nadcap. Will it REALLY keep the contract Manufacturers out of my facility for their own audits? That is my biggest question and I have doubts.

The only thing that it keeps them out is repeating the special process audit covered by Nadcap. I have pushed this issue every now and then when it comes up with sucess. Primes still will come in and review your general production and quality systems and if they find a problem dirrectly related to the Nadcap process all bets are off.
We find that we do get a internal benifit from the Nadcap audits especialy compared to the AS9100 audits. But like most still have some issues with the interpertations and views that come up from time to time but work them as best I can when the come up.

Thanks for the info. My audit is the week after next. I will let you know how it went. I'm not sweating it, though. I'm good at what I do, this isn't my first Dog and Pony show. I'm a BAD MOTHER @%*#ER when it comes to audits. I Aced the AS9100. They had to make up a finding, saying there was a fault in my internal audit checklist. That was my one and only minor on my initial audit, 98.9%. Can anyone top that?

I will love to hear the update of the NADCAP audit...its nothing like any other type of audit you have been through. They say that on your initial audit you are allowed 10 major findings and 20 minor findings for a reason...We had ours last January and it was tough...they are real sticklers for the smallest little detail; they also have their own interpretation of the specs that you must follow.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes...

BY THE WAY - if you have to do corrective action and you have to send them evidence black out everything except the evidence. Don't send them a whole procedure for one paragraph because they will look at it and can ask more questions or even write more findings based on what you submit.

What do you mean "Sticklers for little things?"

An easy example for you is this...

We are a commercial heat treater and we are required to do daily test block checks on our hardness testers per ASTM E-18. The test blocks are certified test blocks and E-18 lists out the parameters that you must follow; then NADCAP throws theirs in as well.

So long story short; indentations on the test block have to be at least 3 times the diameter between centers of two separate indents; so they have to be two times the diameter apart from edge to edge. The auditor took the test block and looked at it under the microscope to measure the distance...

That’s a stickler for the details.

Under A SCOPE?!?!? that is pushing the envelope, eh? We are a pretty tight shop, though. We build circuit boards for military and aerospace industries. I am hoping we have our sh%# together at this point. Did you have to go back and forth with the task group on many C/As? or did you meet their requirements in one shot? I am ok taking a few hits, but if I have to spend weeks and months trying to satisfy some prick from Boeing, i'll go nuts. I have put too much time into this already.
And another thing!?!?!
They (Prime Reps) told me that once I am accredited I won't have to endure any more "Customer Audits." Has that been the case at your facility?