AS9100 Training: What Your Team Actually Needs

Not everyone in an aerospace supplier needs the same AS9100 training, and very few need the most expensive course on the list. The standard asks that people are competent for the work they do and aware of how it affects product conformity and safety. Matching the training to the role is cheaper, quicker and more effective than sending people on whatever a large training body happens to be running next month.

Four levels of training

It helps to think about four distinct levels.

Awareness. Everyone whose work affects quality needs to understand the quality policy, the objectives that apply to them, how their work contributes to product conformity and product safety, and what happens when requirements are not met. AS9100 also expects awareness of counterfeit parts prevention and of the importance of ethical behaviour. For operators, inspectors, stores and dispatch staff, this is a short session, ideally on site, using parts and paperwork they handle every day.

Requirements. Supervisors, team leaders, engineers, planners, purchasing and anyone who owns a process need a working understanding of what the standard actually requires in their area. A planner needs to understand configuration management and control of externally provided processes. A production supervisor needs to understand control of production, first article inspection, foreign object damage prevention and nonconforming output. They do not need to memorise every clause.

Internal auditor. The people who will audit your system need to understand the standard well enough to test it, and the audit method well enough to do it properly: planning, process-based auditing, sampling, interviewing, recording evidence and writing findings. This is a specific skill. Good engineers do not automatically make good auditors.

Lead auditor. Lead auditor training is designed for people who will lead third-party audits or audit suppliers on behalf of a customer. Certification body auditors need it, along with the aerospace auditor authentication that sits on top. An SME rarely needs anyone trained to this level unless it runs a significant supplier audit programme or the quality manager is building a career in auditing.

Why the big courses are often more than you need

The large training bodies run good courses. They are also designed for a mixed audience from different companies, sectors and sizes, and they are usually priced and scheduled for that.

For a supplier of 30 to 200 people, that creates three problems.

• The wrong level. It is common to see someone sent on a multi-day lead auditor course when what the business needed was a competent internal auditor. The extra content on managing audit teams and certification body processes is not used.
• Generic examples. Case studies drawn from other industries, or from large primes with dedicated quality departments, do not translate easily to a machine shop or a press shop with a small quality team.
• Time away from the job. Sending several people off site for days at a time is difficult when they are also running production.

None of this is a criticism of the courses. They simply answer a different question from the one most SMEs are asking.

Train on your own system

The most effective training we deliver uses the company's own quality manual, procedures, forms and records. It changes the conversation in a useful way.

When an internal auditor trainee practises on your own job cards, nonconformance reports and calibration records, they learn the audit method and find real gaps at the same time. When supervisors go through the requirements using your own control plans and first article reports, they see what compliance looks like in their area rather than in the abstract. Questions about "what does this clause mean for us" get answered on the spot.

It also makes training records stronger. An auditor reviewing competence wants to see that training was relevant to the role. A record showing that a team leader was trained on the company's own nonconforming product procedure is more convincing than a generic certificate.

Keep competence evidence simple

AS9100 needs you to determine the competence required, make sure people have it, take action where they do not, check that the action worked and keep records. In practice:

• A training matrix by role that shows which level each person needs.
• Dated records of the training given and who gave it.
• Some check of effectiveness: an observed audit, a review of the person's work, a short practical test.
• A refresher cycle, and retraining when procedures change.

That is enough to satisfy an auditor and, more importantly, to show the business where its gaps are. If you are preparing for certification, our posts on the AS9100 certification process and how to prepare for an AS9100 audit cover the wider picture.

We provide AS9100 awareness, requirements and internal auditor training built around your own procedures, delivered by a practising BS EN 9100 Lead Auditor. See our training services or get in touch.