Overview

This standard establishes variation management requirements for KCs. The standard also specifies general requirements and provides a process to achieve those requirements. The standard requires a thorough assessment of the applicable production/maintenance process with the primary goals being to control and minimize variation in characteristics generated by the process. Specifically, the standard requires: - understanding process elements that affect KCs; disciplined determination of process KCs using appropriate analysis tools for variation control and reduction to satisfy customer requirements; - control and capability assessment to ensure variation is well understood; - process control documents (PCDs) or equivalent documentation that defines specific control of KCs and manufacturing/maintenance process parameters. Although the 9103 standard is focused on variation control of KCs for production and maintenance activities, this process can also be used as a model for other characteristics, such as those that affect cost and delivery. This standard is designed to drive improvement in manufacturing and maintenance processes through appropriate planning and effective variation management of key characteristics. Key characteristics as a focal point are intended to increase confidence in the properties of parts whose changes have a significant impact on the form, installation, performance, service life and manufacturability of the final product. This standard was created to provide for a uniform process for the identification, control, documentation, and approval of KCs when contractually invoked at any level or as guidance within the aviation, space, and defence industry in the control of Critical Items (CIs). This standard can be invoked as a stand-alone requirement or used in conjunction with 9100-series standards (that is, 9100, 9110). This standard is primarily intended to apply to new parts and products, but can also be applied to parts currently in production. The standard shall be applicable to all production processes that influence the variation of KCs, as well as maintenance processes in which KCs are identified. It applies to assemblies and all levels of parts within an assembly, down to the basic materials including castings and forgings, and to organizations that are responsible for producing the design characteristics of the product. It does not apply to lab-scale, pilot, or pre-production processes. However, particular management of some KCs might be required using other methods than those described in the standard, during these phases of a programme, when required by the customer or deemed appropriate by the organization (for example, engineering department requirement). The standard differs from the previous edition DIN EN 9103:2007-11 as follows: a) the standard has been revised to be consistent with the updated contents of the IAQG 9100 series of standards (that is, 9100 and 9110), this was also used for editorial changes and led in part to text shifts within the standard; b) maintenance was included in addition to production/manufacturing; c) it was made possible to use equivalent documentation to the process control document; d) Clause 3 has been expanded, among other things the critical units have been included in addition to the key characteristic and incorporated into the requirements of the standard; e) the descriptions of the stages in Annex A have been partially expanded and made more specific. The 2015 AC inserted the correct European standard designations in Clause 2. The beginning and end of the texts amended by the Corrigendum are indicated in each case by amendment marks. The Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD-STAN) has been declared responsible for the preparation of European standards (EN) for the field of aerospace. The present document FprEN 9103:2014 has been published by ASD-STAN, Technical Section Quality in cooperation with IAQG. The responsible German standardization committee is Working Committee NA 131-05-01 AA "Grundlagen und Managementverfahren (Spiegelausschuss zu ISO/TC 20/SC 14)" ("Basic principles of management processes (Mirror committee of ISO/TC 20/SC 14)") of DIN Standards Committee Aerospace (NL).

Responsible national committee

NA 131-05-01 AA - Quality and management processes  

Responsible european committee

ASD-STAN/D 6 - Quality and safety management