Aerospace has a large, diverse, global supply chain. It is also struggling to keep up with demand while maintaining the essential quality and conformity of the products and services. 

Quality management systems have been around for many years now, but you might ask yourself, why set out to comply with a written standard, and why be certified?

I was a group quality manager for an engineering company that made aero-engine parts. As part of the culture change program, I gave a presentation on examples of aircraft crashes and causes. A poorly machined blisk that caused an in-flight turbine failure, an oil-pipe with a thin wall in one area that cracked and leaked causing a fire, and an incident I personally saw, the crash of a military helicopter in Germany which was due to a series of quality failures.