Beacon Quality Blog

One of the highlights from last year’s Beacon User Summit was our first annual Champions for Quality Awards. Before jumping into what we learned from our champions, we’d like to introduce the 2018 award winners:

Catalyst Award: Tom Sholty, Girtz Industries

Sholty is a quality manager who led Girtz’s ISO 9001:2015 certification, also helping lead the company to the Quality Magazine 2018 Quality Leadership 100. His efforts helped reduce Girtz’s warranty rate to 0.26% of sales dollars and nonconformance rate to 0.89% of sales dollars, both record lows for the company.

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By all accounts, the transition from ISO/TS 16949 to IATF 16949 has been a bumpy road so far. The standard encompasses a range of new requirements, including major changes to parent standard ISO 9001. Added to that, General Motors (GM) recently issued new customer-specific requirements that have significant implications for internal audits.

Many suppliers still have questions about what the new requirements are, what they should be doing to prepare and what auditors are looking to see. Time is running out, so it’s critical that organizations take action now to avoid any unnecessary delays or business interruptions due to certification issues.

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If you had your AS9100 transition audit tomorrow, could you say right now whether you would pass? More importantly, do you know where the gaps are in your processes that could trigger non-conformities?

AS9100 is the leading standard for aerospace management systems, required by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers worldwide as a condition of doing business. The most recent version of the standard, AS9100 Revision D, was released in 2016, giving manufacturers until September 15, 2018 before AS9100 Revision C certificates expire.

To ensure a smooth transition, suppliers need to be aware of several key changes to the standard. Avoiding an interruption in business means proactively planning your transition strategy, focusing on training, gap analysis and internal audits.

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