News Room 2005 (The former Furukawa-Sky)
Acquisition of Certification of Internationally Unified Standard for Aerospace Quality Management System
May 25, 2005
On April 15, 2005, Furukawa-Sky acquired the AS9100 certification “Quality Management System -Aerospace- Requirements” (examination registration organization: Det Norske Veritas A/S (DNV); headquarters in Norway; Japanese region headquarters in Kobe City in Hyogo prefecture) for its Sheet Production Division at Fukui factory (location: Sakai-gun, Fukui prefecture; factory manager: Suketoki Otani).
Moreover, we were also registered in the internationally unified database system OASIS (Online Aerospace Supplier Information System) of IAQG (International Aerospace Quality Group), which allows the viewing of conditions of certification and results of examinations conducted by the examination registration organizations.
The scope of the certification is “design and production of aluminum and aluminum alloy plates and articles,” and we are the first company to acquire this certification and become registered to the database in the light pressure processing industry in Japan.
AS9100 is formulated as an internationally viable standard in the United States and is a revised version of IAQS9100, the internationally unified standard of IAQG's quality management system. Compared to the ISO9001 international standard, it involves additional requirements specific to aerospace industry such as functions, performance, and reliability and safety guarantees of aerospace products. It is issued using the same format and details as JISQ9100 in Japan and EN9100 in Europe.
IAQS9100 has been recognized as a global standard by aviation authorities in each country, and airframe and engine manufacturers (i.e. prime manufacturers) such as Boeing, Airbus, GE, and Rolls Royce have decided to select airframe component manufacturers (suppliers) from companies that have acquired certification according to this standard. As a consequence, many suppliers have been requesting raw material manufacturers to acquire the certification as well.
In Japan, more than 80 manufacturers have already acquired the JISQ9100 certification, but only 26 of these companies are registered in the OASIS database system of IAQG at the present moment. Since information registered in OASIS can be viewed by anyone via the Internet, we will be internationally evaluated as a supplier and hope to be able to use this opportunity to increase our market share.
Furukawa-Sky has already acquired the ISO9001 certification for all our factories (Fukui, Fukaya, Nikko, Oyama and the casting factory). Fukui factory was examined in a transition audit from ISO9001 and acquired the AS9100 certification; the AS9100 certification includes the ISO9001 certification as well. Following the example of Fukui factory, we plan to acquire the AS9100 certification for Oyama factory (under the Extrusion Division) and the casting factory as well. With our efforts involved in such activities, we intend to contribute further as a raw material supplier/manufacturer to the aerospace field, which we expect to grow in the future.The brief overview of the new company is presented below.