Farnborough International AirShow 2018

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We attended a trade day at Farnborough on Friday 20th July and it was a spectacular event.  Hosted by ADS Group (Aircraft/Defence/Space).  The show organisation was faultless and thoroughly enjoyable.

ADS reported the following successes:

  • US $192bn in deals were announced, up by $67.5bn on the 2016 Airshow.
  • Our most international show yet with around 100 countries in attendance.
  • More than 80,000 trade visits through the gates.
  • The first FIA with new Hall 1 facility
  • 2,000+ visitors in our FINN theatres 

In the afternoon there were the flying displays with of course the WW2 memorial flight of a Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster, Red Arrows, a daredevil display by a Red Bull team, the Harrier Jump-Jet and demonstrations of civil aircraft capabilities.

We made some very useful connections but realised that the vastness of the show couldn’t be covered in a single day.  It was a very good day.

The public days at the weekend were very well attended with the added advantage of fine and dry weather, a stark contrast from 2016 when day one had to be abandoned because of heavy rain and thunderstorms

The official blog for independent Management Training
Consultancy, Quality Matters Limited.
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Transitions to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS 9100-9120

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The deadline for transition to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and the Aircraft, Space and Defence Standards AS 9100D, AS9110C and AS 9120B is 15 September 2018.

While this may seem a long way off it is important to remember that the transition and correction and acceptance of any corrective action identified by an assessor must be completed satisfactorily by the deadline date.

Both UKAS for the quality and environmental standards and IAQG for the Aircraft, Space and Defence standards have made it very clear that there can be no extensions or relaxation of the deadlines for any reason.  Any organisation missing the deadline will be deregistered.

There is no appeal mechanism.  The organisation will lose certification and will have to start from scratch to regain certification.  There is a fairly big cost involved in this and loss of certification in the intervening period may result in inadmissibility for tenders and/ or cancellation of contracts requiring one or more of the standards as a mandatory requirement.

The revised Standards are quite different in their approach and require more involvement from Senior Directors and Managers.  This can be a problem where the requirement for understanding and operating the standards has, historically, been delegated to others lower down the organisation.
We at Quality Matters have helped a number of Clients to effect the transition and while we have sought to make it simple to use there have been a number of top management who have been  forced to become engaged in the systems.

The Aircraft, Space and Defence Standards were issued at the end of 2016 but the transition dates have been aligned with the ISO standards. I.E.  15 September 2018 ; a fairly tight schedule.

We urge all holders of certification that are affected by these changes to ensure that their transition is carried out in good time to avoid loss of certification.  Remember you may be ready, but assessors are committed to the stage one for transition followed by stage two on site.  Availability may be a governing factor.

The official blog for independent Management Training
Consultancy, Quality Matters Limited.
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