Nadcap turns twenty

The Nadcap charter is "to develop a world-class special process supplier base". Prior to Nadcap, aerospace companies audited their supply chain to their own quality requirements to verify compliance. For example, for heat treatment suppliers to Rolls-Royce and Airbus, there were at least two audits to accommodate – and possibly more, if the supplier provided other special processes or was considered a high risk. Often, as the parts they were supplying were used in identical or similar applications, the requirements were comparable. These duplicate audits were redundant and simply added to the supplier workload, without adding value. For the primes, conducting their own audits similarly meant duplication of effort, redundant audits, unnecessary administration and, ultimately, higher cost for no added value. But 20 years ago, the situation changed. In November 1989, a US Government/Industry Equal Partners Conference recommended a consensus solution to the duplication of supplier quality assurance systems. In July 1990, the not-for-profit Performance Review Institute (PRI – see box item) was incorporated to administer the Nadcap program, with a mission to provide international, unbiased, independent manufacturing process and product assessments and certification services, for the purpose of adding value, reducing total cost, and facilitating relationships between primes and suppliers. Box items below [] What is the PRI? []Suppliers with 'merit' perform better []Does Nadcap make aerospace industry safer? []Conventional processes now fall within Nadcap THOUSANDS OF AUDITS Now with over 50 major aerospace prime subscribers, the Nadcap programme conducts more than 4,000 audits per year across 15 special processes/products, including chemical processing, welding, heat treatment and non-destructive testing. New accreditations are added as requested by industry. Among the most recent additions are composites and electronics. There are now 317 Nadcap-accredited companies in the UK, holding 976 accreditations between them. Over 500 Nadcap audits take place in the UK each year (approximately 12.5 per cent of all Nadcap audits conducted annually) – in fact, the number has more than doubled since 2003. Europe accounts for nearly one-third of all Nadcap audits conducted each year, with Asia 11 per cent and the Americas more than half. The UK is consistently the second most common location for Nadcap audits, following the USA. Image: Over 500 Nadcap audits take place in the UK each year (approximately 12.5 per cent of all Nadcap audits conducted annually) Image: Europe accounts for nearly one-third of all Nadcap audits conducted each year The Nadcap process typically begins with a notification from a customer to the supplier that they should attain accreditation, although some companies choose to pursue Nadcap accreditation without prompting. The process (see diagram, page 16) involves the supplier [1] contacting PRI to request the audit [2], which is scheduled according to the timeframe and content expectations of the supplier and the customer [3]. An appropriate auditor is assigned [4]. Nadcap auditors typically have over 30 years' experience in their field and are contracted after a rigorous selection process, into which the primes and suppliers input. After the audit, a report is submitted electronically via eAuditNet, the Nadcap audit software programme [5]. The supplier has an opportunity to respond to any non-conformances identified and the report, with responses reviewed by the relevant PRI staff engineer [6]. When the staff engineer is satisfied that the root cause of all non-conformances has been identified and sustaining corrective action has been implemented, the entire report is submitted to the special process Task Group (7). This body of Nadcap subscribing primes, who are also experts in the special process, verifies the conclusion of the staff engineer and approves the audit for certification [8]. At any stage, the staff engineer or Task Group may request more information before progressing the audit to the next stage [6] and [7]. Image: The Nadcap process VARIOUS BENEFITS The benefits for the industry are various: one Nadcap subscribing prime has reported annual savings of over $1 million and up to $5 million per year, while achieving technically superior audits. An accredited supplier has tracked a 97 per cent reduction in rework resulting from improvements to their system, stemming from Nadcap requirements. Meanwhile, surveys performed on the Nadcap accredited supplier base indicate an average 40 per cent reduction in audits, following Nadcap accreditation. In June 2010, PRI released a 20th anniversary survey to determine the impact that Nadcap has had on aerospace suppliers. The 1,151 respondents indicated that 35 per cent have reduced their scrap rates (36 per cent in the UK); 41 per cent reduced their rework rates (44 per cent in the UK); and 44 per cent reduced their escape rates (40 per cent in the UK). The same survey also revealed that for 54 per cent of the respondents (38 per cent in the UK), their sales and/or ability to attract new business had increased. Nineteen per cent of the UK respondents felt that productivity had increased, while 56 per cent of the those respondents indicated that standardisation had improved. For suppliers who do not have Nadcap accreditation, there are risks, but that is ultimately a decision taken by their customer – Nadcap is a critical element of a complex procurement and ongoing approval process. All Nadcap subscribing primes reserve the right to conduct their own audits, if they consider it to be appropriate. For example, initial approvals are conducted by the customer – Nadcap is not a free pass into the supply chain – and any concerns the customer has at any time may need to be addressed by a site visit. A common misconception is that Nadcap replaces customer audits: it does not, but it does reduce them. In 2006, Nadcap Management Council members formally signed an open letter confirming: "Only 6.4 per cent of those suppliers who responded [to a survey] have not seen a reduction in the Prime audits covered by Nadcap. However, the perception still exists that primes continue to perform them." The open letter continues: "PRI and the Nadcap subscribing primes take this matter very seriously and have diligently worked on this issue. All suppliers are urged to contact their respective prime customer whenever redundant Nadcap audits are scheduled by a prime. Be assured that everyone is in agreement on this issue. Redundant audits require time and money that no one has to waste." Box items below [] What is the PRI? []Suppliers with 'merit' perform better []Does Nadcap make aerospace industry safer? []Conventional processes now fall within Nadcap Box item 1 What is the PRI? PRI was created in 1990 by America's Society of Automotive Engineers Inc (now SAE International). It is a not-for-profit organisation. It exists to advance the interests of the transport and related industries through development of performance standards and administration of quality assurance, accreditation and certification programmes, as well as related activities for the benefit of industry, government, and the general public. The PRI mission is to provide a full range of programmes and services designed to improve manufacturing process and product quality by adding value, reducing total cost and promoting teaming between global stakeholders in the transport and other interested industries. Box item 2 Suppliers with 'merit' perform better An analysis by the Performance Review Institute revealed that suppliers on merit typically receive three times fewer major non-conformances in their Nadcap audits and receive approximately two times fewer total non-conformances in such audits. The Nadcap merit programme exists to reward superior performance in Nadcap audits. Suppliers on merit may reduce their Nadcap audit frequency from every 12 months to every 24 months, generating a significant time, cost and resource saving. The Nadcap Management Council, led by Mark Rechtsteiner of GE Aviation, has set a goal of 80 per cent of eligible Nadcap-accredited suppliers to achieve merit status. (Suppliers are only eligible for merit after two consecutive Nadcap audits). "The Nadcap audit is a stringent process, designed to highlight members of the aerospace supply chain with outstanding quality and engineering processes. Entry into the merit programme represents an industry-wide recognition for those suppliers who really are the crème de la crème, as this report shows," says PRI. Box item 3 Does Nadcap make aerospace industry safer? According to a June 2010 poll conducted by the Performance Review Institute (PRI), which administers the Nadcap programme, the answer to this question is 'yes'. One-hundred-and-ninety-eight aerospace workers from around the world responded to the question: "Do you believe that Nadcap contributes to the overall aerospace industry safety record?" Sixty-nine per cent of the respondents said 'yes'. The results of this poll follow a more detailed survey conducted in June 2010 in recognition of PRI/Nadcap's 20th anniversary on 15 July 2010. Over 1,150 people responded to the survey, which showed that the suppliers involved with Nadcap have significantly reduced their scrap rates, rework rates and escape rates (see main feature). Box item 4 Conventional processes now fall within Nadcap Earlier this year, Nadcap launched a new task group for conventional machining. The move was in response to feedback from customers, including Avio, Eurocopter, GE Aviation, Goodrich Corp, Honeywell Aerospace, Israel Aerospace Industries, Lockheed Martin, Messier-Dowty, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Co, Rockwell Collins, Rolls-Royce Corp, Rolls-Royce plc, Snecma, Spirit AeroSystems, Volvo Aero and 309th Maintenance Wing-Hill AFB. The audits cover a variety of hole making processes, broaching, turning, milling, grinding, and edge treatment such as hand benching, mass finishing and automated processes. "Many major aerospace companies, including GE, have internal systems to qualify and audit suppliers performing critical conventional machining processes," says John Pfeiffer of GE Aviation and chair of the new Task Group. "It makes sense to utilise the infrastructure of PRI – which already administers many process accreditations through Nadcap – to identify common industry requirements that can be audited through one series of checklists, assuring compliance, while saving both the primes and suppliers time and money." The Conventional Machining task group was approved by the Nadcap Management Council at the February 2010 Nadcap meeting in Rome, Italy. "By adding a new Task Group to the 14 already in operation, aerospace quality experts are further demonstrating their trust in the Nadcap programme to delivery timely, accurate and cost-effective accreditations throughout the global industry as part of PRI's Customer Solutions & Support (CS&S) mandate," PRI concludes. First published in Machinery November 2010