My customer just told me I need AS9100 — now what?

What is AS9100 and do I need it?

That distinction is the first question to ask before you spend a dollar. Some primes require a certificate from an accredited registrar; others accept "compliant to AS9100" — you run your system to the standard and prove it at their audit. The prep overlaps almost completely, but certification adds registrar selection, Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits, and real calendar time.

The part that should lower your blood pressure: if you already run anything like an ISO 9001 system — even uncertified — you're not starting over. AS9100 contains the entire text of ISO 9001:2015. The aerospace additions are the delta, and that's where every hour of prep should go.

What does AS9100 add on top of ISO 9001?

In practice, six additions carry most of the weight at a small supplier:

• First Article Inspection (FAI) per AS9102. Dimension-by-dimension proof that your first production part meets every drawing requirement — the document a new aerospace customer asks for first.
• Counterfeit-part and material control 8.1.4. Buy from approved sources, verify certs, and control what happens if something suspect turns up.
• FOD prevention. Foreign Object Debris — chips, hardware, tools, rags — controlled so it can't end up inside a flight article. Auditors walk the floor looking for it.
• Configuration management 8.1.2. Proof you built the part to the right revision, with no old rev quietly alive on the floor.
• Product safety and risk management. Identifying risk in your processes up front, not just reacting to escapes.
• Tighter traceability. ISO 9001 asks for traceability "where required." Aerospace requires it, full stop: heat lot, cert of conformance (CoC), who ran it, which job it shipped on.

Notice what's not on the list: a thicker quality manual. The additions are records and floor discipline.

The customer wants AS9100 — a 30-day triage plan

I've watched a shop get that flow-down email on a Friday and spend the weekend pricing consultants — before anyone asked the customer whether they meant certification or compliance. The answer turned out to be compliance, and it cut the job roughly in half. Ask first.

1. Days 1–2 — Ask the customer exactly what they need. Certification or compliance? Which revision? What flow-downs come with their POs? FAIs on every new part number? Get it in writing — it shapes everything else, and asking well makes you look like a supplier who's done this before.
2. Week 1 — Gap-assess the aerospace deltas. Don't re-audit the whole standard. Map yourself against the additions only: FAI, counterfeit control, FOD, configuration management, traceability, risk. Score red/yellow/green, assign an owner and a date to every red. Our first-audit field guide covers the ISO 9001 base; this page is the aerospace layer.
3. Week 2 — Stand up First Article Inspection. Get an AS9102-format FAI report ready and run one on a real part. Learn the re-run triggers now: a design change, a process change (method, tooling, materials, or location), or a two-year lapse in production all require a new or partial FAI.
4. Week 2–3 — Tighten traceability and receiving. Pick a finished part at random and try to pull its heat lot and CoC in under a minute. If you can't, fix the job traveler and receiving record until you can. Add counterfeit checks at receiving: approved sources, cert verification, quarantine for anything suspect.
5. Week 3 — Close the record gaps auditors always find. Calibration records 7.1.5 for every tool that touches the part. Competence records 7.2 — especially special processes, where the operator's qualification is the control. A written FOD practice the floor actually follows.
6. Week 4 — Dry-run and commit. Walk one job end to end — PO → receiving → traveler → FAI → inspection → shipment — asking "show me the record" at every step. Close what you find with evidence 8.7 10.2. If certification is required, contact accredited aerospace registrars now; calendars book out, and the certificate is what lists you where primes look suppliers up.

The audit findings that actually bite small aerospace suppliers

First Article Inspection — missing, or never re-run (AS9102)

The classic finding I see isn't "no FAI" — it's an FAI from three years ago on a part whose process changed since. Auditors check the triggers: design change, process change (method, tooling, materials, location), or a two-year lapse in production. Any of those makes the old FAI stale. File FAIs by part number and revision, and note the trigger check on the traveler when a job restarts.

Traceability — "which heat lot is in this part?"

The test is speed. An auditor points at a finished part and asks for the heat lot and the mill cert behind it. A shop that has the paper somewhere but needs twenty minutes to find it gets written up the same as a shop that doesn't have it. The fix is structural: the traveler carries the lot number from receiving to shipment, and the CoC files by lot.

Calibration records 7.1.5

The same finding that fails small shops on ISO 9001, and aerospace auditors are less forgiving. Records, not just stickers — each instrument, its calibration date, due date, and what happened when one came back out of tolerance.

Counterfeit-part control and FOD — the aerospace-specific gaps

These get skipped because they're new to shops coming from ISO 9001. Counterfeit control 8.1.4 is mostly purchasing discipline: approved or authorized sources, cert verification at receiving, quarantine and report anything suspect. FOD is floor discipline: tool control, debris cleanup at the point of work, packaging that can't shed into the product. Both need to be written down and visibly happening when the auditor walks the floor.

Corrective actions that never closed 8.7 10.2

Nonconformances get logged, corrective actions get opened, and the trail goes cold. The finding is the gap between "we fixed it" and evidence the fix stuck — a closed CAPA with a verified root cause and a re-check weeks later. One fully-closed corrective action beats ten open ones with good intentions.

Special-process training and competence 7.2

For special processes — welding, heat treat, NDT, plating — the operator's qualification is the process control, because you can't fully inspect the result into the part. A training matrix with sign-offs and current quals answers the question in one page. Some customers also flow down Nadcap accreditation for special processes on top of AS9100 — another reason step one is asking the customer exactly what they need.

ISO 9001 vs AS9100 — what's actually different?

The pattern: ISO 9001 asks whether you have a system. AS9100 asks whether that system can protect a part that ends up on an aircraft — provable with records, on demand.

The documents to get in place first (and where to get them)

You can build all of these yourself in Word, or start from an editable template already laid out to the right clause and fill in your shop's specifics. For an aerospace flow-down, this is the priority order:

Every template is editable Word (.docx), instant download, commercial-use license included. Built for fabrication, machining, welding, composite, and contract-manufacturing shops. New to audits entirely? Start with the first-quality-audit field guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is AS9100 in simple terms?

AS9100 is the aerospace industry's quality-management standard. It contains the full text of ISO 9001:2015 and adds aerospace requirements on top — First Article Inspection (AS9102), counterfeit-part prevention, FOD control, configuration management, product safety, and tighter traceability. ISO 9001 is the foundation; AS9100 is that foundation plus everything needed when the part ends up on an aircraft.

My customer asked for AS9100 — do I have to get certified?

Not always. Some customers require certification by an accredited registrar; others accept compliance — running your system to the standard and proving it at their audit, no registrar involved. Ask, in writing, before you spend anything. The prep work is nearly identical, but certification adds registrar fees, Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits, and months of calendar time.

How long does it take a small shop to get AS9100 certified?

Plan in months, not weeks. A small shop with a working ISO 9001-style system typically needs several months to close the aerospace gaps, build audit evidence, and get through a registrar's Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits; starting cold, closer to a year. Being compliant enough to pass a customer's own audit can happen much faster — the 30-day triage plan above is that path.

When does a First Article Inspection have to be redone?

Under AS9102, an FAI must be redone (fully or partially) when the design changes, when the manufacturing process changes — method, tooling, materials, or location — or when production lapses for two years. A stale FAI after a process change is one of the most common findings at small aerospace suppliers.

Is AS9100 much harder than ISO 9001?

It's stricter, not alien. Every ISO 9001 requirement carries over unchanged; the additions are specific and learnable: FAI, counterfeit control, FOD, configuration management, on-demand traceability. The hard part usually isn't understanding the additions — it's the record-keeping discipline to prove them every day.

Do I need a consultant for AS9100?

Not necessarily. A small shop can close most of the gap itself with a focused gap assessment and documents laid out to the right clauses. Outside help earns its fee mainly on the registrar-facing steps of full certification. Start with the free readiness assessment and see how big your gap actually is first.