What's an AS9100 and why should you (and Boeing) care?

It’s been all over the news recently. Boeing cannot find the report for who was responsible for screwing the bolts into the door on that Alaska Airlines flight that lost said door earlier this year. They have erased the video footage of the plant. They “have no record” of the work.

I’m sorry. What?

In the aerospace industry, there is an industry standard that every manufacturer must meet. The AS9100. It tells the complete historical record of your product. For an airplane, it would tell you every single part that’s on that unique build, down to the serial numbers of every individual piece. It tells you who did the work and when. If you have a system to do this (does Boeing really NOT have a system? Please call us so we can help you.), you can then track all the other work that person did on a day or a step that was not done well.

Wouldn’t you like to know if there were more of those out there. And, more specifically, which ones? The AS9100 report will give you insight into all of this. Did the operator (the person doing the work) actually complete all the work you required them to do? Did they finish all the measurements you asked of them? Did they record all the information you needed before they called their work “complete”?

PRODUCTION OPERATIONS

It is unfathomable to me that Boeing does not have such a system. We worked with Boeing back in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. We knew them to be people who cared. Smart people who were looking for more visibility into their work and control over what they were doing to achieve that elusive (on paper) zero defects status.

At that time, we could have told you every single part that went into a build. We were working with them on the space shuttle, and there was no information about that particular production that you couldn’t find through the software they used. There was no way that the statements we’re hearing in the news this week would have passed muster then. And they shouldn’t now.

PAPERLESS MANUFACTURING

Now, you may not work in the aerospace field.   I’m leaning into one of my mentor’s favorite phrases here. “All business is the same. It just looks different.” (Thanks, TD.) Every one of us has things that we want or need to be done a certain way. For Boeing, that’s a regulatory compliance. For your shop, maybe it’s to save money. If your team makes your product just as you’ve asked them to and records the data you’ve asked for, you will ensure that you don’t have scrap to deal with or your error rate goes down. Or your customers accept your product shipments.

Whatever your reason, there’s an AS9100-type report in your future. Get a system that helps you track and keep the information that you need. So you can do top-quality work. So you can prove it later. So you can steer clear of legal issues if someone asks questions.

BOEING and ALASKA AIRLINES

Now, we can’t solve the problem that Boeing and Alaska Airlines had. That’s water under the bridge. But we can provide the kind of tight compliance they need, and you want, to ensure that they can do good business and compete.

Paperless manufacturing is about having information at your fingertips. If that is a combination of a digital system for planning and quality, paper job travelers and even huddle boards for your morning meeting, then run your business that way. Only you know what will make you more efficient. Don’t chase the means. Chase the goal.

Our goal is to give your team the tools they need to track your numbers, report on them, analyze and archive them.  Push the Get a Demo button to learn about how we help teams with this. We are here to help you save money, time and get your Production under Control. 

Contact CIMx Software to see how a Manufacturing Execution System can improve production control for you.