Satair Group UK achieves NEW AS9110/9120 Quality Standard!

Quality First

Following a four day transition audit in June the BSI (British Standards Institution) confirmed that Satair UK Limited meets the requirements of the new quality management standards for the aviation industry, the AS/EN 9100 series and that the revised certificates will be issued to Satair UK Limited in the near future.

The auditor confirmed that Satair UK Limited is the first company to be assessed and approved by the BSI for both AS9110C & AS9120B and to have achieved this transition out of the current +2,200 registered companies in the approval database.

The feedback from the auditor was that this is not only a great achievement but testament to the work and commitment of the staff in Satair UK Limited.

What are the AS/EN 9100 series standards?

The AS/EN 9100 series of standards are the internationally recognized quality management standards for the aviation, defence and space industries, and are operated by the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG).

The three main standards in the AS 91XX series are:

• AS 9100 - QMS for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation and servicing
• AS 9110 - QMS for maintenance, repair and overhaul of aerospace/defence parts
• AS 9120 - QMS for quality assurance in stockholding and distribution of aerospace /defence parts

They are based on the ISO 9001 Quality Standard but have been enhanced and extended to better reflect the needs of the aviation, defence and space industries.Companies such as Airbus (other aircraft manufacturers are available) requires their subsidiaries and their suppliers to have approval to these enhanced standards. Satair Group's distribution supplies parts for many different aircraft and operators and Satair UK Limited provides superior maintenance for hundreds of different aircraft batteries.

What are the benefits of AS/EN 9100 series standards?

Certification to the AS/EN 9100 series of standards helps to facilitate continual improvement, increase market opportunities, demonstrate traceability throughout the supply chain, increase efficiency to save time, money and resources, ensure compliance with a system supported by regulatory authorities, motivate, engage, involve staff and help trade as it’s often a requirement of the aerospace industry.

How many AS EN 9100 series approvals are there?

There are around 20,000 (to be precise, 19823) approvals to the AS/EN 9100 series of standards. Some companies like Satair UK Limited hold more than one approval. Satair Group holds all three at our international sites around the world. Today, the number of approvals world-wide looks like this:

Less than 0.6% of AS EN 9110 & AS EN 9120 approvals are to the new standards and companies have only just over a year, until 15 Sept 2018 to transition to the new standards or lose their approvals and have to recertify from scratch.

To put this in perspective, there are in fact, over one million companies and organizations in over 170 countries certified to ISO 9001.

In preparation for Satair UK Limited's relocation to a brand new purpose designed workshop and warehouse (Q1 2018) we wanted to start from a solid baseline.Transitioning to the new standards before the move to the new site made sense, especially as our other approvals, EASA Part 145 (UK.145.00518) and FAA Repair Station (WL5Y964N) will need to run concurrently at both locations to enable us to continue to provide the levels of service desired and expected by our customers. These two regulatory approvals require and are supported by the Quality Management Systems implicit within the AS EN 9100 series.

We have now set a date with the auditor for the change of site verification audit, which allows us to transfer our current approvals to the new site.

Our Approval Numbers are:

AS9110C:2016 & ISO9001:2015 – FS635703-1
AS9120B:2016 & ISO9001:2015 – FS635703-2
EASA CAA Part 145 – UK.145.00518
FAA FAR Repair Station – WL5Y964N