Implementation walkthrough
How to implement AS9100: video walkthrough
A walkthrough of building an AS9100 aerospace quality management system with your engineers, planners and inspectors, ready for the 9101 audit and an OASIS listing.
Key takeaways
- AS9100 is ISO 9001 plus the aviation, space and defence requirements.
- Choose the right family member: AS9100, AS9110 for maintenance or AS9120 for distribution.
- Customer flow-downs belong in the scope from the start.
- Audits follow the 9101 method, carried out by IAQG-authenticated auditors.
- Certificates are recorded in OASIS, where customers verify them.
The entry condition for aerospace supplier approval
AS9100 is the quality management system standard of the aviation, space and defence industry. It is written by the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) and published in the Americas as AS9100, in Europe as EN 9100 and in Japan as JIS Q 9100 with identical requirements. It contains the complete text of ISO 9001 and adds what the industry considers essential for products whose failure can cost lives: product safety, configuration management, prevention of counterfeit parts, control of special processes, first article inspection and traceability.
Primes and their tier-one suppliers treat 9100-series certification as the entry condition for supplier approval and verify it in OASIS, the IAQG's database. This short film walks through how a machine shop, an electronics assembler, a composites fabricator or an engineering service provider puts that system in place.
From scope to an OASIS-listed certificate
First define what the certificate needs to cover: confirm that AS9100 is the right member of the family, rather than AS9110 for maintenance or AS9120 for distribution, and settle the products and processes, the sites, the headcount, the customer flow-downs and the scope the certificate will state. A gap analysis then tests the existing system against ISO 9001 and every aerospace addition, keeps what works and agrees actions, owners, dates and resources.
Implementation puts the controls into daily use, from configuration management and counterfeit-part prevention to special process control and first article inspection, and the system runs long enough to produce records. Internal audit and management review follow. A certification body accredited for the IAQG scheme then audits the system with IAQG-authenticated auditors and the 9101 method, decides, and records the result in OASIS, where customers look for it.
Sterling's expert and experienced consultants build the system with your team under Sterling OS™ and stay through the audit and the surveillance audits after it. The current edition is AS9100 Rev D, built on ISO 9001:2015, and the IAQG has announced the next revision, IA9100.
AS9100 at a glance
- Purpose
- An aerospace quality management system: the whole of ISO 9001 plus the aviation, space and defence requirements for product safety, configuration, counterfeit-part prevention, special processes and first article inspection
- Relevant to
- Organisations that design, develop or produce aerospace and defence products or services at any tier of the supply chain; maintenance organisations use AS9110 and distributors AS9120
- Edition
- AS9100 Rev D (9100:2016), built on ISO 9001:2015; EN 9100:2018 and JIS Q 9100:2016 carry the same requirements. The next revision, IA9100, is linked to ISO 9001:2026 and slated by the IAQG for the first quarter of 2027
- Certification
- Assessed and decided by an accredited certification body under the IAQG certification scheme (ICOP), by IAQG-authenticated auditors, with the certificate recorded in OASIS
- Sterling's role
- Consulting with your team, Effivity, training, internal audit and certification readiness, then Sustain™
- Cost and timing
- Total investment for an AS9100 aerospace QMS depends on the current maturity of your processes, the scope, locations and number of employees. The process typically takes 6 to 12 months
AS9100: questions people ask
What is the difference between ISO 9001 and AS9100?
AS9100 contains the complete text of ISO 9001 and adds the aviation, space and defence requirements: operational risk management, configuration management, product safety, prevention of counterfeit parts, critical items, special processes, first article inspection, foreign object prevention, stronger control of external providers and human factors. It is also certified under a separate scheme, with IAQG-authenticated auditors, the 9101 audit method and the OASIS database. An ISO 9001 certificate does not satisfy a customer that asks for AS9100.
Do we need AS9100, AS9110 or AS9120?
AS9100 is for organisations that design, develop or produce products and services. AS9110 is for maintenance organisations. AS9120 is for distributors and stockists that procure and resell parts without altering them. Your customer's flow-down usually names the one it expects; where it does not, the choice follows what you actually do to the product.
Is AS9100 certification mandatory?
No law requires it, but aerospace and defence primes and their tier-one suppliers make it a condition of supplier approval and verify the certificate in OASIS. For a supplier that wants aerospace work it is the entry ticket.
Does Sterling issue the AS9100 certificate?
No. Sterling consults. A certification body accredited for the IAQG scheme audits with IAQG-authenticated auditors, decides and records the result in OASIS. Anyone offering to implement and certify in one contract is selling paper.
What is OASIS, and do we have to be listed?
OASIS, the Online Aerospace Supplier Information System, is the IAQG's database of organisations certified under the scheme, the accredited certification bodies and the authenticated auditors. Your certification body reports your audits into it and your certificate is recorded there, which is where your customers verify it. A certificate that cannot be found in OASIS will not be accepted by a prime.
Keep exploring
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On the AS9100 page
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