THE NADCAP APPROVAL IN NDT P.Vijayaraghavan. Hindustan Aeronautics limited, Bangalore-560017, India
[email protected] Abstract NADCAP (National Aerospace Defence Contractors Accreditation Programme) is an industry managed programme. Accreditations are performed by PRI (Performance Review Institute) based in USA, which is a third party registrar associated with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). PRI has established offices in Beijing,China and Aichi, Japan to serve the Asia-Pacific region. Foundry and Forge division of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd ( Bangalore Complex) was the First organization in India to obtain NADCAP approval in 2005 & in the area of More Info at Open Access Database www.ndt.net/?id=15199 Nondestructive Testing methods viz Radiography, Penetrant & Magnetic particle testing. As on 2013 around 20 companies in India have NADCAP approval in various NDT methods. In this paper, reasons for seeking NADCAP accreditation, frequency of the audits, how this reduces multiple audits by the prime contractors, and recognition of the NADCAP approval as an effective marketing tool in Aerospace Industries, are explained. Keywords: NADCAP, special process, Performance review Institute, audit, prime contractors, Introduction NADCAP ( National Aerospace Defence Contractors Accreditation Programme) is an industry managed approach to conformity assessment of ‘special processes’, where “primes” have joined together to create and manage a cost effective approach to special process. To name a few primes, M/S Boeing, Bell Helicopter, Honeywell Aerospace, Hamilton Sundstrand (UTC) of USA , GE aviation, M/S Rolls Royce plc, BAE systems, Euro copter, of Europe and M/S Pratt & Whitney, of Canada. Need to have this approval There are two primary reasons for seeking NADCAP accreditation.