AS9100 · Aviation, space and defence quality management

AS9100 certification consulting for suppliers the aerospace primes can approve.

Get AS9100 certified by an accredited certification body working under the IAQG scheme, with your certificate recorded in OASIS, where your customers look for it. Sterling's expert and experienced consultants build the aerospace quality management system with your engineers, planners and inspectors, prepare the evidence the 9101 audit will test, and remain at your side through the audit and the surveillance years that follow, in 60+ countries. We ensure successful certification for our clients.

Book a free discovery call Start the free AS9100 readiness check

Fixed scope, one proposal: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in one proposal
A team of expert and experienced aerospace quality consultants, advising on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003
The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling does not certify; an accredited body audits and decides

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

8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.

AS9100 client experience

What it is

What is AS9100 and what is it used for?

AS9100 is the quality management system standard of the aviation, space and defence industry. It is written by the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG), the industry's own standards body, and published in the Americas as AS9100, in Europe as EN 9100 and in Japan as JIS Q 9100 with identical requirements. The standard 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 from raw material to the aircraft the part flies on.

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. A machine shop, an electronics assembler, a composites fabricator or an engineering service provider that wants aerospace work needs the certificate to be considered at all. The harder question is your own: can you show that every delivered part matches its defined configuration, was made by qualified processes and competent people, and could be traced and contained if a problem emerged in service?

Current edition. AS9100 Rev D, the IAQG's 9100:2016, was published on 20 September 2016 and is built on ISO 9001:2015; EN 9100:2018 and JIS Q 9100:2016 carry the same requirements. No AS9100 transition is running. ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026, and the IAQG's 2025 annual report states that the full revision of 9100 is linked to that publication, with the 9100 publication slated for the first quarter of 2027 under the new IA9100 designation; the transition period will be set when the IAQG publishes. Until then certification continues to Rev D, and first-time implementers build to it. If your certificate also cites ISO 9001:2015, ask your certification body how the ISO 9001:2026 transition, which ends on 30 September 2029 under Global ACI's transition requirements, will be handled alongside the 9100 revision.

Who it is for

Who needs AS9100 certification?

AS9100 is written for organisations that design, develop or produce products and services for aviation, space and defence, at any tier: a prime's direct supplier and the sub-tier shop that machines one bracket face the same standard. Maintenance, repair and overhaul organisations use AS9110, and distributors that procure and resell parts without altering them use AS9120. Organisations come to Sterling for AS9100 from four starting points:

A prime or OEM has flowed the requirement down. Boeing's supplier quality requirements, D6-82479, expect suppliers to hold 9100, 9110 or 9120 certification from an accredited certification body listed in OASIS under the IAQG scheme; other primes and tier-one suppliers set the same condition in their own terms. Settle the standard, scope, sites and special-process expectations before you invest.
You hold ISO 9001 and want to enter aerospace or defence. The step from ISO 9001 to AS9100 is the aerospace additions: configuration management, product safety, counterfeit-part prevention, first article inspection, special-process control and a supplier approval process that can pass a prime's scrutiny; your existing system is the foundation.
You maintain aircraft or distribute parts. AS9110 and AS9120 apply the same discipline to the risks of an MRO station or a stockist: maintenance records, release documentation, part traceability and the authenticity of what is sold on.
You already hold an AS9100 certificate and it is fragile. Findings repeat at every surveillance audit, FAI packages are rebuilt the week before delivery, delivery data is argued about rather than acted on, or the 9100 revision is approaching and nobody owns the system. It needs rebuilding around how the shop floor works.

The result should be a supply-chain position you can defend and fewer escapes; both depend on implementation and ownership, not on the certificate alone.

Business benefits

How AS9100 supports supplier approval and product integrity

An aerospace quality system should earn you customers and keep parts from coming back. We start with the points where an escape, a configuration mix-up or a supplier's undeclared substitution would cost you an approval, and build around them.

Approved-supplier status that can be verifiedA certificate under the IAQG scheme, recorded in OASIS, answers the first question a prime's supplier quality team asks, before it reads anything else about you.
Fewer escapes and less reworkConfiguration control, first article inspection, key characteristics and production process verification catch the deviation at the machine, not at the customer's goods-in.
A supply chain you can defendApproved external providers with a known status, requirements flowed down in writing and counterfeit-part prevention that starts at sourcing, so what arrives is what was ordered.
Product safety as a managed processSafety-critical items identified, risks assessed and controls planned, so the people who make and inspect the part know why its characteristics matter.
Traceability that answers a customer in hoursMaterial, process, operator and inspection records linked to the part, so a field issue or a customer query is contained with facts rather than searches.
On-time delivery you can showDelivery and product conformity measured, reported and acted on, which is what the scheme and your customers judge you by between audits.

Choose a few measures that reflect these priorities, such as customer escapes, FAI first-time acceptance, supplier-caused nonconformities and on-time delivery, and review whether the system improves them; more procedures are not a result.

Requirements

What are the main AS9100 requirements?

AS9100 follows the harmonised structure of ISO 9001:2015, clauses 4 to 10, and adds the aviation, space and defence requirements inside those clauses; most sit in clause 8, Operation, where the product is designed, sourced, made, inspected and released. The table is a reading guide in plain words; during the programme your system is tested against the wording of the applicable edition, clause by clause.

Clause	What it requires of you	What it looks like in practice
4 Context of the organisation	Understand the organisation, its interested parties and the boundaries of the system, and address the customer and statutory or regulatory quality management system requirements that apply to you	A scope statement, a process map, and a register of customer quality requirements and regulatory obligations
5 Leadership	Set direction, assign authority, keep customer focus and make sure product conformity and on-time delivery are measured and acted on	A quality policy leadership uses, defined roles, and delivery and conformity performance on the management agenda
6 Planning	Address risks and opportunities, set measurable quality objectives and plan changes to the system	A risk register with owners, objectives with numbers and dates, and changes to processes or products planned rather than improvised
7 Support	Provide resources, a working environment that accounts for human factors, competence, awareness of each person's contribution to product safety and ethical behaviour, and controlled documented information	Qualification records for operators and inspectors, calibrated equipment, and documents with versions and owners
8 Operation	Plan and control the processes that realise the product: operational risk management, configuration management, product safety and counterfeit-part prevention; special requirements, critical items and key characteristics; design; external providers with flow-down; production with special processes, first article inspection and foreign object prevention; identification, traceability, release and nonconforming output	Contract reviews that identify special requirements, an approved supplier register with status, purchase orders that flow requirements down, FAI reports, qualified special processes, FOD controls and release and disposition records
9 Performance evaluation	Monitor and measure, including customer satisfaction and delivery performance; audit the system and its processes; review it in management review	Delivery and conformity data by customer, an internal audit programme that follows the processes, and a management review that decides things
10 Improvement	Act on nonconformities, find root causes with human factors considered, and improve continually	Corrective actions with evidence that the fix worked, customer notification where required, and recurring issues visible before the auditor sees them

What does useful AS9100 evidence look like?

Configuration records that match the delivered part, first article inspection reports, product safety assessments for critical items, an approved external provider register with flow-down evidence, counterfeit-part controls, special-process qualifications, tool control and calibration, operator and inspector competence records, delivery and conformity data, and a management review that acted on them. We identify the records your processes genuinely need, without creating documents to fill folders, and they live in Effivity from the first workshop so the auditor sees a system that runs.

AS9100 requirements explained, clause by clause

Certification process

How do you get AS9100 certified?

The order matters: a working aerospace quality system first, then the assessment. A certification body accredited for the IAQG scheme audits it with IAQG-authenticated auditors and the 9101 method, decides, and reports into OASIS. Sterling does the consulting and preparation with you and stops at the decision, which is the certification body's alone; that separation is what a certificate is worth.

01
Define what the certificate needs to cover.Settle the standard (AS9100, AS9110 or AS9120), the products and processes, the sites, the headcount, the customer flow-downs and the scope the certificate will state.
02
Gap analysis: review the current system against the requirements.The gap analysis tests your existing system against ISO 9001 and every aerospace addition, keeps what works and agrees actions, owners, dates and resources.
03
Implement and collect meaningful evidence.Put configuration, supplier, production and inspection controls into use, train the people who operate them and keep the records that show each process achieving its planned results.
04
Audit, review and address the findings.Internal audit follows the processes the way the 9101 method will, and management review weighs delivery, conformity and the system itself; we find the gaps before the certification body does, and they are closed with evidence.
05
Complete the independent assessment.The certification body's Stage 1 readiness review, then the Stage 2 audit reported on the 9101 forms, with a process effectiveness assessment for each realisation process and any nonconformities to close; the certificate is recorded in OASIS.
06
Keep the system running after the certificate.Monitoring, internal audits, reviews and improvement carry on, alongside the body's annual surveillance audits, the performance data it collects ahead of each visit, and recertification in the third year.

Judge the route, not just the quoted price. Ask for the certification body's identity, its accreditation for the IAQG scheme, its OASIS listing, the proposed scope and the audit arrangements, and check them in OASIS and with the accreditation body. Be wary of "no implementation, no audit" offers: an "AS9100 certificate" a prime cannot find in OASIS is worth nothing, and the operational gaps remain. How to choose a credible AS9100 provider · The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does AS9100 certification cost?

A single price for AS9100 implementation would be a guess. A build-to-print machine shop with an ISO 9001 system in place needs a different programme from a design-responsible supplier with special processes and forty sub-tier suppliers. What can be promised is a proposal with each component priced in the open and a fixed total.

Cost component	What affects it
Consulting and implementation	Current maturity, design responsibility, special processes, number of sites, the size of your supply chain and how much of the build your team takes on (Design™ or Drive™)
Independent certification	The certification body's audit time, which the IAQG scheme derives from your headcount, structure and site risk, plus locations, travel and the annual surveillance arrangements
Internal resources	Process-owner hours, management time, FAI and configuration work, supplier re-approval, training and any changes to equipment or the shop floor
Software and learning	Part of every Sterling engagement: Effivity for the aerospace QMS and Sterling Academy for your people; the proposal states the users, courses and access period
Continued support	Sustain™ after the certificate: internal audits, surveillance preparation, refresher learning and the move to the 9100 revision when it is published

What moves the price

Whether you design, or build to the customer's definition
Special processes performed in-house, and whether Nadcap is also expected
Number of sites and countries, and whether one certificate or several
Headcount, the number of processes in scope and the size of the supplier base
The deadline, and how much of the work your team can carry

What a Sterling proposal always shows

Every deliverable, who owns it, the assumptions behind it and what is excluded, written down
Certification-body fees shown separately, any Nadcap cost flagged, so programmes compare like for like
Effivity, training and Academy access listed, at no additional cost
Payments due when deliverables land, not when a month ends
One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever

Timeline

How long does AS9100 certification take?

Count in months, not days: typically six to twelve, set by where you start, how much of your people's time the programme can have, what has to change on the shop floor and when the certification body can come. An aerospace system has to produce first article reports, configuration records, supplier approvals and process results before an auditor can judge whether its processes are effective, and that evidence cannot be back-dated. A working ISO 9001 system puts you at the shorter end; qualifying special processes and re-approving a supply chain puts you at the longer end. The plan is built around that evidence, with milestones your team tracks in Effivity.

Phase	What sets the pace
Scope and gap analysis	Access to people, sites, drawings, customer flow-downs and existing records; clarity on the standard and the processes in scope
Build and implementation	The extent of process change, supplier re-approval, FAI and configuration work, special-process qualification, training and internal capacity
Evidence and review	Processes operating long enough to demonstrate their planned results, followed by internal audit and management review
Certification assessment	The certification body's availability, its data request ahead of the audit, Stage 1 and Stage 2 scheduling, and the time needed to close any findings

If a prime has given you a date for supplier approval, share it at the start; we will say what is achievable and where early decisions are needed. A certificate date promised before anyone has walked your shop floor is not a project plan; it is a sales tactic.

Challenges

Common AS9100 implementation challenges

When an AS9100 programme stalls, one of five things is usually the cause. None of them is unusual and each has a worked answer.

Configuration and first article inspection are done by memory.

We define the configuration baseline for each part, the change route from customer revision to shop traveller, and an FAI process in the report format your customers ask for, so a revision change cannot reach the machine unnoticed.

Your supply chain is bigger than your quality team.

We build the approved external provider register with status and scope, the flow-down text for your purchase orders, the receiving and counterfeit-part controls, and a monitoring routine sized to the risk each supplier carries.

Special processes, product safety and human factors feel abstract.

We work with the people who heat treat, weld, plate or inspect to write the controls in their terms: qualification, revalidation, critical items and the conditions that lead to human error. Where a prime also expects Nadcap, the controls are written so the special-process assessment reuses them.

Your team has limited implementation capacity.

Decide up front who does what. Under Design™ your people build the system with Sterling's structure and coaching; under Drive™ Sterling carries the agreed build work while your engineers keep shipping parts. Either way the weekly session keeps the plan accurate.

You are moving from ISO 9001, or preparing for the 9100 revision.

Review the aerospace additions or the revised requirements against what already works, close the differences at a pace the shop can absorb and coordinate the timetable with your certification body; what works now is kept.

Your engagement

What your AS9100 engagement includes

One scope, one team, one all-inclusive proposal, covering everything an aerospace quality system and the people who run it need. The usual market offer is a document pack or a few days of consulting, with software, training and audit preparation left for you to find elsewhere; a Sterling engagement carries the whole journey.

Scope, gap analysis and implementation plan
Responsibilities, dates and decision owners fixed before work starts, with every customer flow-down mapped to the plan.
Process development and documentation
Configuration, FAI, supplier control, special-process, product safety and counterfeit-part procedures written with your process owners on Sterling's own template sets.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
The aerospace QMS lives in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Internal audit and management review
Run or facilitated as agreed, process by process, so every finding is closed with evidence before the certification auditor sees it.
Certification readiness and support
Preparation for Stage 1 and Stage 2, the performance data the certification body requests ahead of the audit, and support until the certificate is issued and recorded in OASIS.

Certification decisions remain with the independent certification body.

How we deliver

How Sterling supports your AS9100 implementation

An AS9100 programme is delivered through Sterling OS™, the operating system behind every Sterling engagement: five phases, each with its deliverables, decision owners and evidence. You choose how much of the work your own people carry; the method, the software and the accountability do not change.

01
Design™Guided implementation: your engineers and process owners build the aerospace QMS with Sterling's structure, template sets, workshops and coaching.
02
Drive™Fully managed consulting: Sterling consultants carry the agreed documentation, supplier re-approval and FAI set-up with your process owners.
03
Sustain™Post-certification operation: surveillance readiness, internal audits, the performance data the scheme requires, refreshers and new-hire training, year after year.
04
Automate™The aerospace QMS in Effivity: documents, configuration, suppliers, FAI, nonconformities, audits, KPIs and management review in one workspace.
05
Revise™The IA9100 revision the IAQG has slated for 2027, new customers' flow-downs, new sites or special processes, and changes in regulation.

Before work starts we fix the named lead, the weekly working session, the deliverables and who decides what. Progress is measured against those commitments every week, so a slipping FAI process shows up in month two, not in the Stage 1 report.

How Sterling OS™ works

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with AS9100

Effivity · AS9100 aerospace QMS software, included in every engagement

How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of AS9100 Rev D.

Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries, comes with every Sterling AS9100 engagement. Your consultant sets up the aerospace QMS workspace for the agreed scope: documents, configuration records, approved suppliers, first article inspections, special-process qualifications, calibration, nonconformities, audits, delivery KPIs and management review in one system that the shop floor and the office use every day, so the certification auditor audits live records rather than a binder. Sterling consulting clients get their Effivity subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost.

Included in every engagement See Effivity

Context

Scope, interested parties and customer requirements

The scope statement, the issues, the interested parties and the register of customer and regulatory quality requirements are kept together and reviewed on a schedule, so a new flow-down is linked to the processes it changes, not filed in an inbox.

Leadership

Quality policy, roles and delivery performance

The policy, the responsibilities and the quality objectives with their measures, owners and dates live where the people who own them work; delivery and product conformity are reported from the system, customer by customer.

Planning

Risks, opportunities and planned change

A risk and opportunity register with owners, actions and review dates, and a change log for processes, products and suppliers; treatments tracked to closure and visible at management review.

Support

Competence, calibration and documented information

Qualification records for operators, inspectors and special-process personnel, linked to Sterling Academy; calibration due dates; documents with versions and approvals, so the current revision is the only one on the floor.

Operation

Configuration, suppliers, FAI and production control

Contract reviews that capture special requirements, configuration baselines and changes, an approved external provider register with status and flow-down evidence, FAI records, special-process qualifications, tool control, FOD checks and release documentation, created as the work is done.

Performance evaluation

Monitoring, internal audit and management review

Audit programmes that follow the processes, findings and follow-up; delivery, escape and supplier KPIs on live dashboards; a management review that records its inputs, decisions and actions.

Improvement

Nonconformity, disposition and corrective action

Nonconforming product logged with its disposition and any customer notification, root cause found with human factors considered, and the action verified with evidence; recurring escapes visible before they become a finding.

Across the system

Your own processes, forms and reports

Forms, fields, workflows and reports adapted to how you work, without code; customer and regulatory requirements tracked to the processes they affect, and the data your certification body requests ahead of each audit ready to export.

What this means at the audit

A 9101 audit follows your processes and asks for what sits behind them: the performance data, the FAI records, the supplier approvals, the open nonconformities, the qualification records and the last management review. In Effivity each is a screen with dates, owners and evidence attached, not a folder assembled the week before Stage 1. After certification Sustain™ works in the same workspace, so the surveillance auditor finds a system that never paused.

Effivity for AS9100: the guide Effivity QMS on effivity.com

In your engagement

Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
Set up by your Sterling consultant for the agreed scope
Your procedures, supplier register and records migrated, not retyped
Admin and user training for your quality, engineering and purchasing teams
Modules for ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO/IEC 27001 and more when you integrate other standards

AS9100 client experience

Client letters on file, available on request.

Client feedback wall: letters on file

Signed client letters for AS9100 are available on request. The client feedback wall lists every letter by standard.

Where AS9100 usually sits

How an integrated aerospace programme is run.

All case studies

01
Aerospace: AS9100 quality control and simpler customer audits
An aerospace parts maker with sound production skills needed to work to the quality expectations of the aerospace sector. Its AS9100 system brought tighter quality control and design validation, less tolerance variation and a lower risk of component failure. Certification showed customers its commitment, simplified their audits and strengthened confidence in the company as a supplier; its president said AS9100 had lifted the business to a new level.
Read the case study

Sterling Academy · AS9100 e-learning

Train the whole company on AS9100, from the machine to the management review.

AS9100 expects every person to know how they contribute to product conformity and product safety, and the auditor will ask an operator, not only the quality manager. Sterling Academy trains the whole workforce and the people who run the system: short video lessons, practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered, verifiable Certificate of Completion per learner. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.

AS9100 awareness for every employee, with each person's contribution to product safety and ethical behaviour
Courses for the people who own configuration, purchasing, production and inspection processes
Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard, within the engagement
Completion by department and by role, exportable as the competence evidence the auditor asks for
Operators and inspectors trained before they are qualified on the work, and new hires as they arrive
A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner needs one

Where we work

Where Sterling delivers AS9100

Keep exploring

Explore more about AS9100

Watch a video on how to implement AS9100 here.
Watch a video on AS9100, AS9110 and AS9120 requirements here.

AS9100 resources

Services for AS9100

Industries

Aerospace and defence

Why Sterling

Want successful AS9100 certification? Come to Sterling.

Whether you are qualifying one shop for its first aerospace customer or aligning plants across countries under one prime's flow-down, Sterling helps you establish shared aerospace quality processes with clear local ownership. We work through differences in customer requirements, special-process expectations and regulatory obligations, so the system supports growth without losing sight of how each site makes its parts.

Management systems in 60+ countries since 2003

Quality systems implemented for manufacturers, engineering firms, maintenance organisations and distributors, with offices in 21 countries and one engagement team accountable in every country you operate in.

All-inclusive proposal

One proposal covers consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access; the certification body's fees are shown on their own line. The fee does not move.

A system your shop floor can use

The fewest documents that do the job: travellers, inspection records, training and software wired to the way parts are actually made, so operators and inspectors work the system rather than work around it.

Expert and experienced consultants

Consultants who have advised on quality management systems across sectors and countries since 2003 and know the aerospace additions from the shop floor, so the AQMS is built right the first time and the audit confirms what already works.

Sterling vs the rest: the full comparison Explore AS9100 client experience

The Sterling Promise

What our AS9100 certification success guarantee means

100%on-time completion · success · 8,100+ client engagements

We stay with you until the AS9100 certification outcome agreed in your engagement is achieved: through the build, the internal audit, the 9101 audit and the closure of any nonconformities raised. Plain explanations, delivery on the shop floor, included software and workforce learning leave you with a system that keeps earning approvals, not a certificate that expires on a wall.

The engagement letter names the standard, the scope, the outcome and who does what. Your organisation supplies accurate information about its products, processes and suppliers and puts the agreed controls to use. The certification body assesses conformity under the IAQG scheme and retains its decision; your customers retain theirs on supplier approval. Our commitment is the agreed certification support, not any contract award or escape-free delivery.

After certification

What happens after AS9100 certification?

The certificate goes into OASIS and a three-year cycle begins: a surveillance audit from the certification body in each of the next two years, then recertification in the third. Under the IAQG scheme the body asks for your performance data ahead of each audit, and your delivery, product conformity and customer satisfaction results feed the risk analysis that shapes audit time; a well-performing system may qualify for performance-based surveillance where the certification body offers it.

New customers bring new flow-downs, new parts bring new configurations and new suppliers bring new risk, and the system has to absorb each of them. Under Sterling OS™ Sustain™ we review escapes, supplier performance, delivery data and process results with you, run the planned internal audits and management reviews and prepare each surveillance visit, so the system is current on the day the auditor arrives because it was current every day before.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions about AS9100

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.

How is an AS9100 audit different from an ISO 9001 audit?

The audit follows 9101, the IAQG's audit requirements standard. The auditor audits your processes rather than the clauses, completes a Process Effectiveness Assessment Report for the processes that realise your product, recording the evidence and whether each process achieves its planned results, raises nonconformities on the 9101 forms and reports into OASIS. Ahead of each audit the certification body collects performance data from you, and your delivery and conformity results influence the audit time.

When is the next revision of AS9100 due, and should we wait for it?

The IAQG's 2025 annual report states that the full revision of 9100 is linked to the publication of ISO 9001:2026, which appeared on 16 September 2026, and slates the 9100 publication for the first quarter of 2027, under the new IA9100 designation. Do not wait: certification continues to Rev D, customers need the certificate now, and a system built properly on Rev D will transition under Revise™ on the timetable the IAQG and your certification body confirm.

Do we also need Nadcap?

Possibly. Nadcap, administered by the Performance Review Institute, accredits special processes such as heat treating, chemical processing, welding, coatings and non-destructive testing, and the primes that subscribe to it require it from suppliers performing those processes. It sits alongside AS9100 and does not replace it. Check the flow-down, and tell us at the start so the special-process controls also support a Nadcap assessment.

Can Sterling support AS9100 across countries or sites?

Yes. Plants in different countries are run as one programme with one engagement team and one Effivity workspace, and, where the certification body agrees, certified on one multiple-site certificate under the IAQG scheme's structure rules. Workshops, document reviews and coaching are largely remote; shop-floor observation is done in person, and Sterling's regional offices keep that travel short.

What does Sterling's 100% success guarantee mean for AS9100?

That we do not leave when the documents are written. We stay through the build, the internal audit, Stage 1, Stage 2 and the closure of any findings until the outcome agreed in your engagement is reached. The engagement names the standard, the scope and the outcome; the certification body audits and decides. For a proposal we need the products and processes, the sites, approximate headcount, whether an ISO 9001 or AS9100 system exists today, the customer flow-down and your deadline, nothing else.

Before the first call

Prepare a useful AS9100 readiness brief

No quality manual is needed for the first conversation. What helps is a short account of what you make, for whom, and what the certificate has to achieve. Seven questions cover it:

Which customer or prime is asking, what does the flow-down say, and is it AS9100, AS9110 or AS9120 that it expects?
Do you design the product, or build to the customer's definition, and which processes are special processes?
What is your supply chain, and how do you approve suppliers and flow requirements down today?
How do you control part configuration, revision changes and first article inspection now?
What do escapes, customer complaints, rework and supplier problems tell you about the starting point?
Which existing processes, records and systems, including an ISO 9001 certificate, already work well?
Is there a supplier approval date, an audit date or a customer deadline that the plan has to meet?

With these answers the work can be scoped and a realistic proposal written. They frame a conversation; they are not a score and not a certification decision.

Don’t be fooled by certification scams

If it takes ten days, it is not AS9100 certification.

An AS9100 certificate is useful when it comes from a certification body accredited for the IAQG scheme, is recorded in OASIS and describes the scope your customer needs. The market is full of paper: "AS9100 certificates" from bodies outside the scheme, consultants who promise to manage everything while your shop floor does nothing, and audits that are a formality. They cost less, until a prime searches OASIS, or a part comes back.

How to choose a credible AS9100 provider

Ask who will issue the certificate and confirm that the certification body is listed in OASIS as accredited for the IAQG scheme, not merely for ISO 9001.
Confirm the accreditation and the auditors with the accreditation body and in OASIS: the scheme requires IAQG-authenticated auditors, and a body that cannot name its accreditation is outside it.
Ask how the programme will work with your actual travellers, FAI reports, supplier approvals and escapes. A procedure pack with another company's part numbers still in it will be noticed by a 9101 auditor within the hour.
Pin down who does each task, which assessment costs sit outside the fee, and who helps when the auditor raises a nonconformity with a deadline.
Ask what your operators and inspectors will learn, and where the records will live. A system nobody was trained on, kept in nobody's software, ends when the consultant leaves.
Walk away from "AS9100 certified in 7 to 10 days", from "we manage everything" and from one invoice for consulting and certificate. An aerospace quality system has to run, and produce records, before anyone can audit it.

All ten warning signs of shortcut certification

What accredited AS9100 certification always involves

Months of implementation, scaled to your products, processes and supply chain
Trained people and a documented system that the shop floor actually runs
Internal audit and management review completed before the certification body arrives
A Stage 1 readiness review, then a Stage 2 audit by IAQG-authenticated auditors from a certification body accredited for the IAQG scheme
Audit reporting to 9101, with a process effectiveness assessment for your processes
Nonconformities closed with evidence before the certificate is issued
A certificate with a defined scope, recorded in OASIS
Annual surveillance and three-yearly recertification, with your performance data reviewed

Sterling's position. Sterling does not certify. We build, train and prepare; a certification body accredited for the IAQG scheme audits and decides. We never sell a certificate without an implemented system, and if an offer on your desk is one, we will say so. Accreditation is an independent check of the certification body's competence, and the IAQG scheme puts its own oversight on top; a certificate issued outside that scheme is not AS9100 certification, whatever its header says.

Holding or been offered an AS9100 certificate you are unsure about? Send it to us and we will tell you, at no charge, whether it stands up to a prime's check.

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