My company has an audit coming up later this year, and as the team gets ready for the Nadcap Heat Treat audit, it always brings to mind the importance of aligning the team toward the proper preparations. There are many checklists to complete for Nadcap: The AC7102 has 10 job audits. The AC7102/8 pyrometry checklist carries many rigorous requirements. There’s even the AC7000 to remind us to complete the other checklists and to put the emphasis on fraudulent activities and process change management.
There’s a reason Nadcap audits are usually met with a degree of trepidation. Nadcap accreditation is a supplier’s guarantee to customers that they are committed to rigorous quality standards and will be able to meet the most stringent requirements safely and reliably. It definitely takes a team for a company to pass the audit.
Quality
From the quality side, it is important to get the correct checklists from the PRI website. With occasional revisions being made, the company needs to make sure they have the correct checklist for the time of the audit. Once the checklists are obtained, the strategy on how to best complete them must be made. As quality manager, my preference is to download the Word document checklists and, with two monitors at my desk, have the checklist open on one monitor and the procedures on the other monitor. Remember, every checklist question must be answered with responses of “yes”, “no”, or “N/A”. The goal and hope are that every question is either marked “yes” or “N/A”. When it is “Yes”, it implies the requirement is being met. When it is “N/A”, a reason must be indicated for why it is not applicable — for instance, a company may not perform nickel heat treatment, only aluminum alloys. When the response is “No”, corrective action must be made and properly documented. Companies should do their best never to answer “No” for the checklist, but to instead fix the problem to make the process compliant before submitting the checklist.
Operations
It is good to notify those on the operations side of the upcoming audit and coach them as to what the auditor will be looking for. I love using the phrase, “Say what you do, do what you say” in the aerospace industry as it implies a very simple rule to follow. Say what you do in the procedures and do what the procedure says when performing your work. Make sure the operations team has the most up to date instructions on the floor, and are aware of the FOD program and what to look for when setting up and breaking down heat-treat loads. Make sure the proper documentation is also being completed, such as daily checklists or furnace log books for cycles run. If the operations team is complete cycle run charts, make sure they know the definitions of start and end of cycle, what overshoot is, and what the tolerances are for both time and temperature for the given cycle.
Maintenance
From the maintenance side, make sure that the PMs are up to date. If maintenance is also performing any pyrometry, make sure they are up to date in recording both the tasks performed on the ovens and checking with the quality team as to whether the maintenance task requires any specific pyrometry testing before returning the furnace to operation. Depending on how the company is set up, the maintenance team may or may not be performing the pyrometry tasks such as the temperature uniformity survey (TUS), calibration, and system accuracy tests (SAT). Remember to have the work and the testing reviewed.
Make sure those performing the pyrometry testing are aware of correction factor usage if calculations are performed manually or are aware of how computer software programs are interpolating between two given test points. Attention to detail is critical in the documentation of pyrometry, and it is highly recommended that companies look into a pyrometry management software program. AlCuMet uses C3 Data, but there are many others out there from reputable companies such as GeoCorp and Aerospace Testing & Pyrometry (ATP).
Years ago, someone described Nadcap audits to me as being like looking at a one-foot-wide hole that can go a mile deep, while AS9100 is more like being a mile wide in its scope with one-foot depth. This isn’t to say one is shallow and one is too deep, but rather to emphasize the importance of Nadcap being highly technical. Companies should continually train their teams (also a requirement in AC7102). PRI offers some great courses. Also, it is worthwhile to attend the quarterly meetings for Nadcap so you can stay up to date with where the industry is and to network. I personally have met people over the years that I continue to do work with.
In the end, the Nadcap audit is no small task; it requires a full team effort. From safety through shipping, every person can be impacted by the requirements of the checklists and proper compliance to them. The checklists are like an open book exam. You are given the requirements ahead of time (before the “test/audit” date) and, like good students in school, it isn’t wise to cram the studying the night before, but rather to space it out months prior to the upcoming audit. Remember, the checklists are also due 30 days prior to the audit.
One strategy that I have implemented over the years when managing these Nadcap checklists is to put myself in the perspective of the auditor. What are they looking for? The answer to the question: All they want is what is on the checklist. They don’t need the story. They don’t want to hear the excuses. They want to see compliance or not. So, make it easy when completing the checklists so that the auditor can easily complete the audit. I’ve even gone as far as matching the numbering system in the checklists to match the company’s internal procedures to streamline this process.
Audits are about preparation, but they also represent what a company is doing in a snapshot in time. With ethical behavior being more of a top priority today in the aerospace industry, heat-treat companies should be valuing honesty, integrity, and good judgment in complying with customer requirements. We shouldn’t need an audit for that.
