Aerospace Fastener FOD Program

inspector625

Involved In Discussions
Good Morning Everyone,

During our gap analysis last year we were asked for our FOD program which we currently do not have. I have looked through the information and discussions in the forum and have begun working on our program. My question is being that we manufacture fasteners for the aerospace industry but not any actual critical flight components am I able to say we are a FOD awareness area without having control or critical areas? I know we do not have to audit against this but measure the effectiveness just not sure that we really need to have different level areas. Im sorry if this doesnt make sense, its first thing in the morning. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Thank you! :eek:
 
T

tiffany26

You still have to have some sort of controlled FOD area regardless of the components you have in order to assure the auditors and customers that if you were to ever receive a job that required the use of FOD control you already have an active procedure in place. Most companies use their inspection department as FOD control and the shipping department. FOD is just the practice that harmful substances are nowhere near contaminating the product. A small petty example would be a fly in your soup. To you that would be considered FOD. Same goes for the product. Some customer call outs specify certain chemicals like markers, acetone, etc. are not allowed near the product. Defining how you monitor and measure that is really the only thing you need to ensure you have an effective FOD procedure. With a sign or a call out in the procedure where you have a complete controlled FOD area, like inspection or shipping because these are the more practical departments that shouldn't have foreign objects not related to the product anyways. Hope this helps.
 

Steve Prevette

Deming Disciple
Leader
Super Moderator
My answer comes more from the Nuclear / Steam Systems side of FOD, but consider FOD also includes chunks of stuff getting ingested into a turbine (be it steam, or a jet engine). There may need to be some consideration of where your fasteners are on an aircraft. If they are external, and were to fail and either the fastener itself or the component fastened with the fastener to be sucked into the engine, you would have FOD.

If you are looking for example FOD programs, NQA-1 might be an example to follow.

See also (I found these on a quick google search)

(broken link removed)

https://www.meggittsilicone.com/pdf/MPS QUALITY MANUAL - REV.G, 12-07.pdf
 
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PaulJSmith

Without knowing the exact nature of your business, I suspect these are things you already do. You just need to codify them into a documented program. Essentially, you need to spell out the things you do to prevent foreign object debris from getting into your products. If you manufacture, say, screws or nuts with integrated washers, what do you do you keep debris from getting into the spaces between those components? How do you mitigate that, or any similar situation? This is your FOD program.

As Steve already pointed out, it doesn't take much. Do a quick image search for "turbine FOD" to see what even a small fastener can do to an aircraft engine. It's very important to your customer (and their customers).
 
D

Djoss

First post on this forum for me.
Regarding the FOD prevention program, I would suggest to you to have a look on the IAQG Website on the Supply Chain Management Handbook (SCMH).
Have a look on the Chapter 3.4.
You'll find a nice Robustness Assessment Tool, which give clear criterias&guidelines about thoses type of areas.

3.4 : Foreign Object Debris (FOD)
3.4.1 : Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Introduction -April 2014 (pdf)
3.4.2 : FOD Prevention -April 2014 (pdf)
3.4.3 : FOD Prevention Training Program -April 2014 (pdf)
3.4.4 : FOD Program Robustness Assessment Tool -October 2010 (xls)

KR
Djoss
 

dsanabria

Quite Involved in Discussions
Good Morning Everyone,

During our gap analysis last year we were asked for our FOD program which we currently do not have. I have looked through the information and discussions in the forum and have begun working on our program. My question is being that we manufacture fasteners for the aerospace industry but not any actual critical flight components am I able to say we are a FOD awareness area without having control or critical areas? I know we do not have to audit against this but measure the effectiveness just not sure that we really need to have different level areas. Im sorry if this doesnt make sense, its first thing in the morning. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Thank you! :eek:

First - I am a big fan of FOD programs - having said that, there are no requirements in the AS9100 standards that tells you that you need a program so don't overdue it. The standard does mention it in clause 7.5.1 and 7.5 so I let the people know that there should be an awareness through out the facility of FOd - NO EXCLUSION, specifically personnel from office, upper management and engineers. Those are the biggest violator of the FOD concept.

Second, you could go to the free files section (Look at top of the page - small rectangular box) and use on of the presentation for FOD. Present this to all personnel (you could modify it to meet yours or the customer requirements) place notification through the shop. Shipping and receiving is a magnet for FOD.

Make sure you have objective evidence of the presentation and... you got your program.
 
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