Thursday, January 16, 2014

An As9100 Consultant Helps Streamline Aviation Companies While Facilitating Certification

By Judy Sullivan


The aviation business is an exciting but challenging place, and as has been often noted, the only constant seems to be change. How one manages the implementation of new processes, or even decides if that is the correct step can make or break an organization. With the help of an as9100 consultant, a corporation can gain ISO certification and change their future for the better.

No matter what business one is involved with a major event to change direction or significantly alter the way operations are conducted. Part of this is the old adage that if something is working, one should leave it alone. Competition, however, renders that adage moot, as others are constantly looking for ways to do the same thing better, faster or at a lower price.

Part of the employee concern is the awareness that their checklist discipline to perform tasks in a standardized manner has been the key to the enviable safety statistics which make the company strong. They have a natural feeling that it is working, and therefore they are suspect of management efforts to alter the way things are done. The key is communication throughout the company to motivate pursuit of improvement.

The organization rising to that need is called ISO, a word that originates in the Greek word isos, meaning equal. Organized in 1947, this group of standards experts from more than 150 countries meet, debate and develop guidelines that ensure consistent, safe and equal products and services. Adopting these guidelines and gaining certification in them proves a commitment to excellence customers and competitors heed.

The organization has been producing agreements ever since, but the quality management movement created a more receptive environment. Once the ISO 9000 series were published in 1987, they received international approval, and the option to neglect them faded. Now competitors and the consuming public are aware of the standards and companies go without certification at their peril.

Gaining ISO certification in an industry as complex as aviation is difficult yet almost necessary to gain public confidence. Old school leadership would see managers simply dictating what the new process was going to be, but that no longer sits well with workers. But these same workers that one painstakingly selected feel strongly that the way they are already performing does not require change. Fortunately, change managers are skilled at introducing new processes without eliciting anger or fear.

The kind of deep look at the business is unlike most management reviews, it entails every process accomplished by anyone working, from administrative support and training to operational flying. The goal of this first deep look is to assess exactly what is really being done, seeking those tasks that either hurt efficiency or do not help. This is a difficult step to accomplish without an independent outside assistant.

Once the new processes are well established, the hard part really begins, as the term continuous improvement implies, the effort is never ending. An as9100 consultant can help establish a maintenance process that helps prevent stagnation and encourages an environment of self inspection. Staying ahead of competitors is less the goal than simply being the best that one can be in given circumstances.




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