August 9, 2021
Shimco has completed its recertification audit for ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D, which included operations of its new, state-of-art special processes facility.
“We started construction of the special processes line in early 2020 and completed it earlier this year, within our current facility in Cambridge, Ontario,” says Peter Voss, Shimco President and CEO. “After hiring senior, experienced special processes management and quality personnel, we were able to quickly get everything working extremely well. Receiving the AS9100D certification is proof our team did a fantastic job.”
In the AS9100 series of standards, special processes refer to a set of linked procedures that lead to the creation of products and services whose end results would not otherwise be measured, monitored or verified before being released to the customer, says Shimco. Hence, these products and services require special attention during production to ensure that they are free of defects. They also require rigorous, standard-specific practices as well as qualified personnel or employees.
In the aerospace industry, the National Aerospace and Defence Contractors Accreditation Program (NADCAP) plays a major – and mandatory – role, acting as an approval body of the process used and ensuring the product is correct. The accreditation process involves specific audits based on NADCAP requirements. For a NADCAP audit to take place, a company must first be AS9100 certified. Now that Shimco has received its AS9100D accreditation for metal surface treatments, it is scheduled for its NADCAP audit early this fall. Shimco is also currently undergoing audit by a major aerospace OEM for metal surface treatments (special processes) and expects to receive those approvals very soon.
“As Shimco continues to expand its operations and capabilities, we will be more and more vertically integrated. We need to continue to compete internationally, and having a multitude of capabilities under our control, including special processes, is key to our continued success,” says Voss.