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84 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 Don't Treat the Nadcap Audit as an ISO Audit The Nadcap audit is an extensive process compliance review per the auditor criteria checklist. It is common for suppliers to have approximately 20 audit findings or more dur- ing their first attempt to get accreditation. Dur- ing an ISO audit, a supplier may receive some minor or major findings where you need to complete corrective actions within 30 days to attain or keep your certification. A similar approach is followed by PRI when it comes to Nadcap audits. However, PRI has established strict guidelines in their operating procedures; there are thresholds of allowable findings to achieve accreditation. Also, it is important to understand that PRI notifies its subscribers— the list of aerospace companies that are signed up in their program—when a supplier has achieved Nadcap certification or failed their audit. Therefore, poor preparation may give you a bad reputation with aerospace custom- ers if the audit results in significant findings. Table 1 shows an example of how many allow- able nonconformances (NCRs) are allowed per auditor day (Source: PRI, Operating Procedure, OP 1110, Audit Failure). Make Process Audits the Engine of Your Quality Systems Even though Nadcap is driven by the aero- space industry, those suppliers that attain this accreditation will increase their level of pro- cess compliance, which will benefit all cus- tomers that receive parts or services from that supplier. Consider integrating your inter- nal quality audit schedule to include the Nad- cap process audit checklist associated with the process step being audited. This approach will embed this requirement into your overall operating plan, which will result in a highly effective and process-focused quality system. The business objective is to maintain Nadcap to satisfy your aerospace customers' require- ments. However, the true benefit is that you will achieve higher operational performance with a constant review of your operations with best-in-class process audits. Make Nadcap the catalyst to transform your operations. SMT007 Alfred Macha is the president of AMT Partners. He can be reached at Alfred@amt-partners.com. To read past columns or contact Macha, click here. Table 1.