Despite a pandemic and a significant dip in the aviation industry, air travel is once again back on the rise. In June 2021, United Airlines made the largest aircraft order in their company’s history, as well as the largest for the industry by a single airline carrier in more than a decade. Airbus and Boeing also forecast the aviation industry to continue to grow. With continuing development as the world becomes more interconnected through aviation, standardization is more important than ever. The AS9104:2022 series was revised recently as part of its mandatory review, for improvements, lessons learned, and harmonization with current practices and any regulatory changes, creating benefits and advantages for organizations that participate in the Aviation, Space & Defense certification process.
What is the AS9104:2022 Series?
AS9104 covers many aspects of Aviation, Space, and Defense Quality Management Systems. This series was originally created to achieve “significant improvements in quality and reductions in cost throughout the value stream.” Since its creation, the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) has developed requirements for quality management systems (QMS) to be integrated into the supply chain. AS9104 was originally a single standard, but it became clear that with its complexity, it needed to be broken up into three standards for clarity. They are below as follows:
- AS9104-1:2022 – Requirements for Certification of Aviation, Space, and Defense Quality Management Systems
- AS9104-2:2014 – Requirements for the Oversight of Aviation, Space, and Defense Quality Management System Certification Programs
- AS9104-3:2020 – Requirements for Aviation, Space, and Defense Auditor Training, Development, Competence, and Authentication
AS9104-1 provides the requirements for managing the aerospace quality management systems (AQMS) certification scheme or ICOP scheme. AS9014-2 and AS9014-3 give requirements for the oversight process and the AQMS auditor qualification and training requirements.
Recent Changes to the AS9104 Series
With advancements in aviation, the AS9104 series has had quite a few changes made to the series. Some of these changes influence audit duration and planning, the biggest change is the increased interaction with the client prior to the audit to perform a risk assessment. The changes include:
- Organization Certification Analysis Process (OCAP) is designed to calculate the audit time. It will be used by CBs to see if audit time increases or decreases from factors such as risk, performance, and other factors
- Performance Based Surveillance/Recertification Process (PBS/RP) to replace ASRP for individual organizations. Audit duration can be decreased by 33% for single and multi-site structures
- With certain permutations (a physical location of a site and using ICT), up to 50% of the audit duration may be conducted remotely
- New requirements for accreditation body assessment changes
- Site structure requirements changes for certificated organizations
- New requirements for auditor competency, training, and continuing oversight
These changes and others listed in the series help increase efficiency and are intended to improve quality throughout the supply chain. To better understand the changes made to the requirements of the AS9104:2021 series, register for the ANAB Course on Understanding Revisions to the Requirements and Concepts of AS9104:2021 Series.
