GM1 21.A.139(d)(1) Production management system

CONFORMITY OF SUPPLIED PARTS OR APPLIANCES

The production organisation approval (POA) holder is responsible for determining and applying acceptance standards for physical condition, configuration status and conformity of supplied products, parts or appliances, whether to be used in production or delivered to customers as spare parts. This responsibility also includes BFE (Buyer Furnished Equipment) items.

To discharge this responsibility the quality system needs an organisational structure and procedures to adequately control suppliers. Elements of the quality system for the control of suppliers may be performed by other parties provided that the conditions of AMC1 21.A.139(d)(2)(ii) or AMC2 21.A.139(d)(2)(ii) are met.

Control can be based upon use of the following techniques (as appropriate to the system or product orientation necessary to ensure conformity):

— qualification and auditing of the supplier’s quality system;

— evaluation of the supplier's capability in performing all the manufacturing activities, inspections and tests necessary to establish the conformity of parts or appliances to the type design;

— first article inspections, including destruction, if necessary, to verify that the article conforms to the applicable data for a new production line or a new supplier;

— incoming inspections and tests of supplied parts or appliances that can be satisfactorily inspected on receipt;

— identification of incoming documentation and data relevant to the showing of conformity to be included in the certification documents;

— a vendor rating system which gives confidence in the performance and reliability of this supplier; and

— any additional work, tests or inspection which may be needed for parts or appliances which are to be delivered as spare parts and which are not subjected to the checks normally provided by subsequent production or inspection stages.

The POA holder may rely on the results of inspections/tests performed by the supplier if it can establish that:

— the personnel responsible for these tasks satisfy the competency standards of the POA quality system;

— quality measurements are clearly identified; and

— the records or reports showing evidence of conformity are available for review and audit.

The POA holder retains direct responsibility for inspections/tests that are performed either at its own facilities or at the supplier’s facilities.

The control of suppliers holding a POA for the parts or appliances to be supplied can be reduced to a level at which a satisfactory interface between the two quality systems can be demonstrated. Thus, for the purpose of showing conformity, a POA holder can rely upon documentation for parts or appliances, which is released in accordance with the supplier’s privileges that are defined in point 21.A.163.

A supplier who does not hold a POA is considered to be a subcontractor under the direct control of the POA quality system.