Configuration Manager's Duties - AS9110 or AS9100

J

jfgville

We are pursuing AS9110 certification, similar to AS9100 but for aircraft maintenance, repair, & overhaul. At this time configuration management is accomplished by various individuals in different departments. As we develop a configuration management system/process, we would like to establish the position of configuration manager.
Does anybody have example job duties / descriptions that can be shared?

I would appreciate any help / advice.
 

Michael_M

Trusted Information Resource
What would the individual position do for your company? I would tailor the position to what you need/want to fit within the requirements of your company.

The standard has some requirements for configuration management but I assume that it is not saying you have to have a 'configuration manager' (I know AS9100, not AS9110). Describe what the person's responsibilities will be, as the company needs them to be, and go from there.
 

dsanabria

Quite Involved in Discussions
We are pursuing AS9110 certification, similar to AS9100 but for aircraft maintenance, repair, & overhaul. At this time configuration management is accomplished by various individuals in different departments. As we develop a configuration management system/process, we would like to establish the position of configuration manager.
Does anybody have example job duties / descriptions that can be shared?

I would appreciate any help / advice.

First - Configuration Management has to deal with processes.

However, if you need guidance - see the Supply Chain Management Handbook - http://www.sae.org/servlets/registr...sses&OBJECT_TYPE=SCMHGeneral&PAGE=getSCMHBOOK

or


ISO 10007 Configuration Management - (if you do not have it - send me a Private Message)
 

Big Jim

Admin
I can't imagine an operation complex enough to justify a separate manager for configuration management. It doesn't need to be that complex.
 

Wes Bucey

Prophet of Profit
I can't imagine an operation complex enough to justify a separate manager for configuration management. It doesn't need to be that complex.
I can imagine one, but I've never seen one. I've written a lot about CM over the past ten years in the Cove. Use the Advanced Search to find and review it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
J

jfgville

Configurations Data Manager/Configurations Management Analyst may better described the position.
I envision the person managing and maintaining all configuration management (CM) aspects of our facility that would be adversary affected by the use of superseded or unapproved documents and data. To included distribution of the documents/data and recall of obsolete documents/data.
At present this is done by various individuals who have been assigned a particular aspect of CM, like maintaining the aircraft maintenance manual subscriptions. The engineering department maintains their drawings in their own area.
I think that we are accomplishing CM but in the past have not recognized it by it name or necessarily had documented procedures for it.
There is also the aspect of maintaining the configuration of the aircraft such that when it is returned to service it leaves in an airworthy condition which is defined as type certificated (or legally altered condition).
I think we will gain efficiency and reduce opportunity for quality escapes as we identify and document CM and put a person in charge of maintaining it.
 

dsanabria

Quite Involved in Discussions
Configurations Data Manager/Configurations Management Analyst may better described the position.
I envision the person managing and maintaining all configuration management (CM) aspects of our facility that would be adversary affected by the use of superseded or unapproved documents and data. To included distribution of the documents/data and recall of obsolete documents/data.
At present this is done by various individuals who have been assigned a particular aspect of CM, like maintaining the aircraft maintenance manual subscriptions. The engineering department maintains their drawings in their own area.
I think that we are accomplishing CM but in the past have not recognized it by it name or necessarily had documented procedures for it.
There is also the aspect of maintaining the configuration of the aircraft such that when it is returned to service it leaves in an airworthy condition which is defined as type certificated (or legally altered condition).
I think we will gain efficiency and reduce opportunity for quality escapes as we identify and document CM and put a person in charge of maintaining it.

Not sure if I understood your post - too many points and vague on conclusion.
 

John Broomfield

Leader
Super Moderator
Configurations Data Manager/Configurations Management Analyst may better described the position.
I envision the person managing and maintaining all configuration management (CM) aspects of our facility that would be adversary affected by the use of superseded or unapproved documents and data. To included distribution of the documents/data and recall of obsolete documents/data.
At present this is done by various individuals who have been assigned a particular aspect of CM, like maintaining the aircraft maintenance manual subscriptions. The engineering department maintains their drawings in their own area.
I think that we are accomplishing CM but in the past have not recognized it by it name or necessarily had documented procedures for it.
There is also the aspect of maintaining the configuration of the aircraft such that when it is returned to service it leaves in an airworthy condition which is defined as type certificated (or legally altered condition).
I think we will gain efficiency and reduce opportunity for quality escapes as we identify and document CM and put a person in charge of maintaining it.

jfgville,

Appointing a CM Coordinator instead of designing and implementing a CM subsystem so everyone plays their part in CM strikes me as a waste.

No one may want to do it but the CM Coordinator would not be able to it for them either.

Rather like document control.

John
 

Wes Bucey

Prophet of Profit
Of course, I'm old. Most of my contemporaries that I respected as fellow business and quality consultants are dead. One that I respected the most, Akio Miura, of Tokyo, fought the good fight almost to his dying breath. Akio was the first (and one of the few) non-Americans to earn and hold EVERY ASQ quality certification.

One thing Akio and I often commiserated over was the seeming futility of leading ignorant people to the drinking water fountain, showing them how it worked, and then watching them die of dehydration because they didn't have someone else to work the fountain for them.

HERE'S THE DEAL:
Configuration management has only one goal: do not use obsolete rules or tools to do current things.

Individuals and organizations may be able to task only one competent person with the power and authority or it may need a whole team to keep track of design or process changes and the ramifications each change has downstream and upstream.

It seems obvious from subsequent posts that OP did not follow the clue and read any of my previous postings on CM.

Let me push the button on the fountain:
The basis of Configuration Management is to do the following, more or less simultaneously:
  1. go through a formal process of revision and approval when you change any aspect of the part or document
  2. make a determination about the compatibility of the changed part or document with all the other Associated Documents (a specific term)
  3. determine if any of the Associated Documents must be revised to be compatible in form, fit, or function with the original changed document
  4. notify all parties who may be concerned about the change and get acknowledgment that change is implemented and obsolete documents or processes are withdrawn
  5. monitor the process to ensure all the changes work together
That may seem overly complicated. Let's explore a very simple change and see how the steps above would fit in.

One of my favorite examples I frequently use (to carry a premise of saving on assembly cost) is switching from Phillips Head fasteners to Torx drive or square drive fasteners for more efficient assembly. (Form and Fit of thread profile and length are the same, fastener Function remains - service personnel may need notice to add Torx driver to kit, but can replace with current stock of Phillips head)

On the surface, this is a simple change, but consider:
  1. organization needs to make a formal document change on the part, checking and approving the change.
  2. We check the compatibility with the mating parts, but we also have to
  3. change work instruction, assembly tools, inventory (use up old inventory first?), purchasing (same or different supplier? same or different price?), repair instructions sent to field personnel, pricing on the final product, advertising, etc.
  4. notify all parties - quality inspectors, assembly workers, quality inspectors at customer, suppliers, inventory clerks, repair stations, decide whether repair stations can continue to repair with Phillips head in inventory or must implement new Torx, decide whether recall is necessary to change out old parts,
  5. continue to monitor how all parties adapt to and implement change and decide whether further modification of any of the steps is necessary
  6. All of us go through these steps consciously or unconsciously. The key is to do the steps purposefully and consistently and to record the steps as they are completed to assure optimum efficiency. (It would be foolish to scrap or sell off all the old Phillips head fasteners and order in all new Torx ones, only to discover no one had thought to order new Torx drivers.)
 
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