The International Aerospace Quality Group

The highest demands on quality and safety are placed on those chains of supply and added value that have very specific needs. And as a supplier to the aerospace industry, you find in yourself in the middle of them. Thanks to the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG), sector-specific quality standards for quality management in this industry have been available since 1998 – as well as specifically authorized, independent certification bodies such as DQS.

Because only the perspective of an objective, sector-experienced third party can attest to the conformity of a management system with the requirements of the EN 9100 series – and conformity must be ensured! In their forecast for the next five years, IAQG has established a distinctive target: 90% of all enterprises in the aerospace chain of supply shall be certified according to the management system standards of IAQG.

EFFECTIVENESS OF PROCESSES

In the past 15 years, IAQG has created and further developed standards that integrate all the members of the chain of supply into their sector-specific quality ideal. EN 9100 focuses on manufacturers, EN 9110 on maintenance organizations, and EN 9120 on retailers in the aerospace industry. All of the standards in this series have the same objectives: they take into account the requirements of aerospace legislation and empower suppliers to fulfill their customer’s requirements.

And they all expect their users to employ an active, continuous improvement process that promotes the avoidance of errors and improve the reliable stability of processes. To this end, these management systems include several essential elements. Before any production series commences, e. g., there is a strict requirement for risk assessment and first article inspection. In the case of ongoing production or services, they focus on gap-free verification management and traceability. And tied closely to it, emergency concepts in case of defective products already shipped.