AS 9100 Software for Quality in the Aerospace Industry

Whether passenger plane, jet fighter, or spacecraft – once one of these vehicles is speeding through the troposphere, stratosphere, or exosphere after take-off or lift-off, there is usually no way of conducting quick-fix quality improvements in mid-air. The quality and durability of all parts must be safeguarded right at beginning and, of course, be comprehensively documented. It therefore comes as no surprise that concepts like FMEA/FMECA, which were originally devised by the military, rapidly became an integral part of quality assurance in the aerospace business long before they were applied in the automotive industry.

Standard-Compliant Quality Management

Apart from the obvious planning and inspection efforts during initial production and assembly, there are also considerable quality control requirements while aerospace products are in operation. Whether maintenance, inspection, or improvement in accordance with pertinent FAA regulations, the AQAP NATO quality requirements, A-Check, IL-Check, D-Check, or the various components of EN/AS/JISQ 9100: thorough training, documentation, and reliable quality data are key factors in the area of aircraft maintenance.

Training Management for Maintenance Tasks

The potential analysis in CAQ.Net^®, for instance, is a function that allows you to always find the most suitable employee for a specific maintenance task. You are, for example, looking for an employee in your company who has in-depth knowledge of a specific aircraft type, speaks fluent German, and has been trained in the maintenance of auxiliary power units. All you need to do now is enter these parameters and the system will return a list of candidates and information regarding what degree the individual candidates fulfil the required qualifications. In our example, you may learn that fourteen of your employees speak fluent German, seven of these are trained in the maintenance of auxiliary power units, but only one of these seven also has in-depth knowledge of the specific aircraft type at hand. In just a few steps, the system allows you to find the most suitable employee for any given task.

Quality Management at the Highest Level

The incoming goods inspection functions and the supplier, complaint, and process management modules in CAQ.Net^® are, of course, also of particular interest for companies that operate in the fast-paced just-in-time world of the aerospace sector. In order to facilitate a full overview of all matters at hand, our software is furthermore equipped with comprehensive traceability and batch-tracking functions that allow you to monitor and document your entire production procedure as well as every application, storage, or movement of your products.

Our customers in the aerospace industry appreciate the flexible and cross-modular structure of our CAQ.Net^® software, which facilitates both high degrees of usability and data transparency. Whether FMEA, SPC, audit/checklist/document, or training management: CAQ.Net^® provides you with all the tools and control mechanisms that are required for comprehensive quality management in the aerospace industry.

ERP-Integration

Within today’s information technology, there are few aspects that are as important as the effective and efficient interaction between different systems: the bidirectional exchange of information is an absolute necessity in order to be able to conduct successful data management. CAQ.Net^® is a management system that fluently communicates with other IT-systems and facilitates the mutual transfer of data. Hence, with CAQ.Net^®, the idea of data transparency does not stop at the CAQ-system, as the CAQ-system is also connected directly to the ERP-system. A standard interface transfers master and dynamic data between the two systems. This means that all article master data is synchronized and that incoming goods inspections are automatically logged on in the CAQ-system as soon as new incoming goods are registered by the ERP-system. The direct communication between the two systems thereby greatly increases the overall process efficiency in the company.

Decades of Experience

CAQ AG has over thirty years of experience in the field of computer aided quality assurance and quality management. Our first customers included a variety of manufacturers from the aerospace sector. Over the decades we have continued to support said customers in the implementation and maintenance of our standard-compliant software solution and many of these customer relationships have since developed into knowledge sharing partnerships. These partnerships allow us to continuously improve our product and rapidly adapt to changing industry demands.

The resulting target/actual comparison between CAQ.Net^® and the most current requirements by manufacturers in the aerospace sector, means that our customers are always in command of a cutting-edge software solution that allows professional, efficient, and standard-compliant quality management.

A Holistic Management Solution

Successful quality assurance and management in the aerospace sector requires an all-inclusive management solution that covers all quality-related facets from product design to complaint management and safeguards consistent compliance and traceability. This solution must incorporate all aspects of quality management and facilitate the adherence to valid standards and guidelines. This solution is CAQ.Net^®: your all-inclusive management solution for the aerospace sector.

Highlights

• Certified compliance with ISO 9001, EN/AS/JISQ 9100
• Online/offline audit and checklist management
• Bidirectional integration into a vast variety of IT-systems
• Qualification matrix for monitoring employee training measures and skills
• Graphic evaluation planning with statistic and analysis functions
• CAD inspection planning with automatic stamping of drawing characteristics
• Traceability down to the individual measurement value
• Standard compliant inspection plans for incoming goods, SPC, and outgoing goods
• Consistent implementation of PDCA and Kaizen in a cross-modular cycle of control
• Integrated supplier management and web-based supplier evaluation functions
• Complaint management with cost analysis functions
• Automatic control plans based on the FMEA and inspection plan
• SPC with machine and process capabilities (Pm/Pmk, Pp/Ppk, Cp/Cpk)
• Root cause analysis via Ishikawa Diagrams and 5-Why Method
• Change management with cross-departmental change workflows
• Multi-language-capability for master and dynamic data
• Form generator for designing customized forms
• Escalation management for action and due-date tracking
• Workflow-management and assessment of action effectiveness
• Cross-modular linkage of articles, article groups, processes, documents, inspection plans, etc.
• User-specific access control
• Optimized for usage on touchscreens
• Sophisticated system-wide document management functions
• And much more