Companies or organizations related to aircraft, space, and defense industry seek out AS9100 certifications for their quality management system. However not all industries are the same, there are some that distribute products and services to those said companies but are unable to get certified for AS9100.

You may think of just getting the ISO 9001 standard or just becoming “compliant” however that is not enough. The problem with stating compliancy to other companies that buy from you is that anyone can buy the same documents and put their company name on it that says ISO 9001 compliant. If you are really thinking ahead of operating to the standard, why not schedule an audit?

ISO 9001 standard is good on its own however that is much more preferable for general manufacturing industries. These are companies that do not need stringent measures compared to the aerospace certification standard. A company achieving the ISO 9001 standard is truly praiseworthy accomplishment however for bigger distributors this is not going to be enough.

If you have a company that sells aerospace commodities such as electronics and gaskets you may want to acquire the as9120 certification. This is based on the ISO 9001:2000 but with as much as 100 extra requirements that are specified just for aerospace distributors.

Suppliers and distributors that use the as9120 standard is more rigorous when implemented compared to the previous ISO 9001 standard. This standard helps you address inventory control and availability of records, traceability and chain of custody just to name a few. A word of caution though, this standard is not developed for organizations that repair product. If in any case that your company falls into that category it is suggested that you take a different standard.

Several benefits of as9120 certification when attained can be very helpful for your company. Gaining better quality and efficiency is one advantage; that in turn you will be able to meet or even exceed customer expectations. You will also be able to reduce waste on your resources especially if you are on a tight budget, and instead of thinking too much on it you will be able to concentrate more on customer satisfaction.