I just joined a small company that has been AS9120. They provide barstock and coil and plate material for machine shops etc. Our last audit, the auditor suggested that we move to AS9100 since we are performing value added activities.
The value added activities we provide are mostly special processes provided by our vendors and some grinding to size. All of it is done by vendors and processors.
For example, Our customer will order 15-5 material to H1075. We will order the 15-5 material from a vendor and send it to a heat treater to be heat treated to H1075 and then ship to the customer. if they require a non standard diameter, we will send it to a grinder to be ground to size. All vendors are controlled per AS9120 External Provider requirements.
Our registrar is saying that this means we take control of the process and are therefore a manufacturer and need to go to AS9100. I tend to agree with this, but our upper management is in WTF mode.
My questions.
What differentiates a distributor from a manufacturer when it comes to value added activities.
Is our registrar correct in their evaluation that we should be AS9100?
The value added activities we provide are mostly special processes provided by our vendors and some grinding to size. All of it is done by vendors and processors.
For example, Our customer will order 15-5 material to H1075. We will order the 15-5 material from a vendor and send it to a heat treater to be heat treated to H1075 and then ship to the customer. if they require a non standard diameter, we will send it to a grinder to be ground to size. All vendors are controlled per AS9120 External Provider requirements.
Our registrar is saying that this means we take control of the process and are therefore a manufacturer and need to go to AS9100. I tend to agree with this, but our upper management is in WTF mode.
My questions.
What differentiates a distributor from a manufacturer when it comes to value added activities.
Is our registrar correct in their evaluation that we should be AS9100?