It appears that the FAA is going to require that 787 First Articles be accomplished again.  My article will help improve this reporting if necessary.

Our customers are requiring more First Articles and even sooner than required in the AS 9102A Standard.  Standard requires every two years if two years has elapsed since the last manufacture of the product.  But there are some OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufactures) that have reduced the two years to one year.  So be careful and be sure that you have read the customers contract, ALL Quality Requirements, sometimes called QNotes and FULLY UNDERSTAND all the contract requirements before you sign and fully commit your organization.

Does your Quality Organization review Customer contracts and provide documented input?

You will notice that AS9100C, Quality Management Systems – Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations, no longer requires AS9102A so it leaves the forms for the supplier to use up to the supplier unless the customer con tract specifics AS9102A.

So read the customer contract and FULLY UNDERSTAND ALL THE CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.

TIPS AND TOOLS
What are some of the errors that occur when organizations prepare an FAIR (First Article Inspection Report)?  Let us look at some and determine if there is a need for your organization to make any changes?

• Perform the FAIR to their drawing and not the customer’s drawing number that is on the contract.  See the Clause in the standard that specifices this.  Yes I said “CLAUSE.”  The terminology has changed and what use to be “ELEMENTS” are now called “CLAUSES.”  Reject the FAIR if the supplier has used their part number instead of the Customer part number that is on the contract.
• Forget to include ALL the general notes.  Reject the FAIR.
• Don’t show the tolerances on the recorded readings.  Reject the FAIR.  (Some suppliers explain the tolerances at the top of the recorded data measurement sheet but be careful as there may be some measurements on the drawings where +/- 0.010 is not the correct tolerance as you will see +/- 0.003 or some tighter tolerance shown with the drawing measurement on the drawing.  Example could be 1.355 +/- 0.005 but the tolerance block at the bottom of the drawing says .XXX is +/- 0.010.
• Don’t show enough decimal places in the recorded data.  If the drawing dimension is 1.498 inches and +/- 0.010 inches don’t show the result as 1.508 when it was 1.5085.  The 0.0005 was dropped because it was only half way and not over half way.  What if the measured dimension was 1.5089, was the .0009 dropped so the dimension would not be out of specification.  What was the measurement when you checked it with the same measurement device that was used by the person that took this measurement?  Was the correct measurement device used that could read four decimal places?  Reject the FAIR if the product is out of specification.
• Don’t tell if the readings are inches or metric.  Reject the FAIR.
• When there is a numerical dimension with a tolerance and the result is shown as “PASS” this is not acceptable.  Reject the FAIR.
• Is the weight on the FAIR within the drawing specification?  Is the scale used to weigh the product in calibration?  Does the scale have enough decimal places to weigh the product?  Was the weight rounded up or down?
• Are all the measurement devices used to perform the FAIR calibrated and current?  Again are the measurement devices capable of measuring the number of decimal places?
• Is the part number and serial number on the FAIR the same as the product you are performing your Source Inspection?
• Does the FAI product have a tag attached to identify it as the FAI part or in a separate bag?  This is needed as suppliers will put the FAI part in the same shipping container as the other parts.  Tag needs to identify the part number, serial number and the fact that it is the FAI part.  Be sure to check the contract for FAIR requirements and part identification.  (Some customers will want to check the part at their Receiving Inspection so they need to know what part was used for the First Article.)
• If the product has a Bar Code Label does the label have the correct information?  What is the contract requirements for the data that must be included in this Bar Code Label?  Is the customer part number, serial number and drawing revision level to which the product was manufactured in the Bar Code Label.  How about the suppliers work order number for traceability?
• Does the contract require that the PO Number and revision be included in the Bar Code Label?  Does the supplier Cage Code need to included in this Bar Code Label?  (Customers may have more then one source of supply for this product so they need to know who the manufacture was.)  The new square Bar Code Labels need a reader as you will not see any numerical information.  (Some of the new cell phones can read this new Bar Code square but you need to ensure that the supplier has this capability and the information is what the Customer contract requires.)  Reject if product does not meet customer contract requirements.  Be specific and detailed in the rejection information.
• Did the supplier give you all copies of the PO from the original to the current one?  The original will have all the contract requirements and any revisions are usually just quantity reorders with ship dates.
• Does the FAIR contain all the Bubble identified dimensions and General Notes?  If not Reject the FAIR and state why the rejection.
• For some suppliers FAIR’S are new to them because of all the detail.  You will need to help them.  To save time and prevent a wasted trip to the supplier I will call them to set up the Source Inspection/FAIR review date and time plus ask the above questions to ensure that they are really ready for me.

As you can tell the Customer Contract will define the requirements but don’t overlook all the drawings and specifications that are on the contract and the product drawings.

Customers expect that all the product that they order from their suppliers to meet ALL THEIR CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS each and every time.

Inventory turns is important to Customers and many are using JIT (Just-In-Time) shipments so that what their suppliers provide goes directly from their Receiving Dock to Receiving Inspection and then to the manufacturing floor.  Product is not placed in stock as this costs money.  This eliminates costs for the handling and money for inventory storage.  Some customers use dock to the manufacturing floor directly and no Receiving Inspection to save money.  If there are problems in Manufacturing with this scheme you will see penalties that can happen documented in the customer’s contract.  Example could be that the supplier pays for the return of the rejected product.  Besides the return shipping costs the supplier will pay for the Customers handling costs in order to process the rejected product back to their supplier.  If the customer must assign a full time Source Inspector to the supplier to inspect all product before shipment to ensure that the product is acceptable and meets all the contract requirements, then the supplier will pay for the Customers Source Inspector for as long as it takes to provide continual acceptable product.  What does your customer contracts say about this issue?

RISK MANAGEMENT TIPS AND TOOLS
What Risk Management steps does your organization take to ensure that these types of situations above do not happen?  Is there a plan and is the plan working or does the plan need revision?  How often does your organization review all the Risk Management Processes and report at Management Review Meetings the positive and negative results.  Is there follow-up to these results when action items are assigned?  Is this follow-up documented in the next Management Review Meeting Minutes or is there just assignment of more Action Items and no follow-up activities?  Do the Risk Management processes allow for action now and not have to wait for a Management Review Meeting?

EDITOR’S NOTE:  The discussion in this article is NOT meant to be prescriptive, but descriptive of a possible situation.  if specific engineering or consulting is required, consult a professional.

Bio:  Bill Walker is an expert of AS 9100 and Quality Management Systems.  If you have questions or need assistance please contact me at:   E-mail address of billwalker64@comcast.net.  Phone contact number is 425-774-2123 in Edmonds, WA.