West Midlands, England --Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) has been accredited to certify the latest quality-management standards specific to the aerospace industry, one of the first organizations to achieve this since the publication of the revised AS family of standards in 2009.

The accreditation, awarded by the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB), allows LRQA to support companies looking to ensure consistent quality of the products within their supply chains and promote a safer aerospace industry.

“Increasingly, companies from a wide range of sectors are having to adapt to changing business models, increased globalization of their supply chains and evolving statutory and regulatory requirements, “says LRQA President Andrew Smith. “They need assurance that their management systems fully address their need to maximize quality and customer satisfaction, while keeping their costs at a minimum. This accreditation demonstrates our competencies and capabilities in AS9100 and AS9120, as well as our ability to help our clients to ensure the quality of their products, processes and services.”

Organizations that work across the aerospace industry require their suppliers to be certified to the AS standards to ensure global product consistency. The revised standards include the updated requirements of ISO9001:2008 for aerospace organizations’ quality-management systems, and also for bodies seeking to deliver accredited certification, such as LRQA.

One of the revised standards, AS9100:2009 Rev C, provides a new international standard for quality-management systems that supplements the generic requirements of ISO9001 to address the additional needs of aviation, space and defense organizations. It was written by industry experts to help maintain the safety, reliability and quality of aerospace products.

Another revised standard, AS9120:2009 Rev A, includes additional requirements that are specific to aircraft component distributors.