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 , Bell Helicopter, , 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.

 The most obvious reason is that our Export customers for flight hardware are making accreditation mandatory for doing business with them.

 The second reason is that the various standards will ensure, that consensus-based best practices are implemented for increasing quality of our processes. ISO 9000 & AS9100 only prescribe general requirements for business management. NADCAP goes much further to ensure the quality of a specific area of our processes, based on detailed and proven methodologies.

Quality Standards There are various NADCAP quality standards for different products, manufacturing processes and services. These standards are published by the SAE ( Society for Automotive Engineers ) Aerospace Division. Under these standards, a supplier of an accredited, process or service is authorized by NADCAP to use the program’s mark (a mark of conformity) and a certificate to indicate that the accredited product, process, or service is in compliance with applicable standards and/or specifications.

Accreditations are performed by Performance Review Institute (PRI), ,a 3rd party registrar associated with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. , It has established offices in London, UK to serve Europe, and Beijing, in China, Aichi in Japan to serve the Asia-Pacific region.

Since being established as a not-for-profit trade association in 1990, PRI has become the global authority in facilitating industry-managed programs and administering special process accreditation programs as well as developing web based audit management software.

Special process

Special Processes, are those processes where the parameters are directly influenced by component geometry and / or the results cannot be confirmed by inspection. They require specific to part work instructions to control the operation. To name a few Special process defined by NADCAP are, Heat treatment, Non-Destructive Testing , Welding, Composites, Coatings, Chemical processing.

Methodology

The NADCAP program is administered by the Performance Review Institute (PRI). PRI schedules an audit and deputes an approved auditor who conducts the audit against an industry agreed standard using an industry agreed checklist. ( The Nadcap auditors are professionals with over 30 years of experience in the field) At the end of the audit, non-conformity issues are raised and non-conformance reports issued.

After the completion of the audit process with non-conformance reports, PRI administration presents the completed audit pack to a ‘special process’ task group made up from members of industry who reviews it and vote on its acceptability for approval. All non-conformance close outs are carried out on line, through PRI website.

Frequency of NADCAP audit

Frequency of NADCAP audit can vary for each special processes. The normal accreditation cycle is 12 months, which can be extended to 18 months interval in subsequent audits., and extended to 2 years on Merit scheme.

IMPLEMENTATION OF NADCAP

Typically, the first step is to implement AS9100 (International Aerospace Quality Management System). NADCAP also recognises AC 7004 NADCAP AQS standards as an alternate to AS 9100 , to start with. After compliance with these management systems, then next step is to perform a NADCAP assessment of one or more specific process. The result is a gap analysis report, which will dictate the customization of a proposal for NADCAP-specific implementation. Minimum steps in the audit

 Implementation of AS9100 requirements  Carrying out a NADCAP Gap Assessment  Implement NADCAP audit specific to each special process.  Close out of NC’s raised and review by respective NADCAP task force  Accreditation

Customers audit

Customers have accountability for the quality of parts and so may still need to visit suppliers. Experience to date is , in general the frequency of visits significantly decreases from all primes participating in NADCAP.

Operating cost of Nadcap against product cost

Quality is fundamental to our product and an industry managed programme is the cost effective way to manage ‘special processes’ in our supply chain. Suppliers in the USA already operating the programme have noted specific advantages

 Reduction in multiple audits by prime contractors.  Consistent auditing creating a ‘level playing field’  Recognition of the NADCAP approval used as an effective marketing tool. . Foundry and Forge division of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Bangalore Complex, is the First organization in India, to obtain NADCAP approval in the area of Nondestructive Testing & Heat treatment. Subsequently Aircraft division, Aero Engine division and Composite Manufacturing division got NADCAP approval in various process.

At present divisions of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Bangalore Complex, are exporting their products to M/S Boeing USA, M/S Aerospatiale France, M/S IAI Israel, M/S Honeywell Aerospace USA, M/S Hamilton Sundstrand (UTC) USA , M/S Rolls Royce plc UK . It is expected the NADCAP approval tag will open more opportunities for HAL in the Global aerospace market. Acknowledgement: Author would like to acknowledge, Management of M/S Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore for their encouragement in presenting this paper.