industry information > enterprise excellence > quality systems and accreditation

The nature of today's aerospace industry demands that platforms, products and components are produced to the very highest levels of operational effectiveness, quality and reliability - all at competitive cost.

The expectation of the customer community is such that they not only expect the products to be designed and manufactured at a cost affordable to the end consumer, but also that they are delivered on time and to ever increasing levels of quality and reliability performance.

It is no longer just a wish of the customer for 95% or better levels of quality, but for the industry to strive to six-sigma levels, which are essential if we are to maintain a viable aerospace industrial base in 10 and 20 years.

Quality must be at the heart of the aerospace design, build, manufacture and support environments and processes.

Quality issues relating to the UK aerospace industry are managed by the SBAC Quality Committee. To find out more about the committee, click here.

The diagram (left) describes where the Quality Committee fits in the SBAC governance structure.

The key outputs of the Quality Committee are:

- oversight and management of the UK Aerospace Sector Certification Scheme (ASCS); which deploys the AS/EN/JISQ 9100 series of aerospace quality management standards;

- representation of the UK on national and international quality groups such as the UK Defence Industry Quality Forum (DIQF), the ASD Quality Committee, the European Aerospace Quality Group (EAQG) and the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG);

- to act as a conduit of information on all matters relating to quality and reliability through such mechanisms as industry briefing papers and the SBAC Annual Quality Conference.

The following links provide more information the outputs of the SBAC Quality Group:

1) more on the deployment of AS/EN/JISQ 9100, 9110 and 9120 Aerospace Quality Management Standards

2) more on external forums on quality related issues

Should you require any further information on 'quality matters' then please do not hesitate to contact the project manager for Enterprise Excellence and Supply Chains on 020 7091 4506.