The AS9003 standard specifies Inspection and Test Quality Systems Requirements for Aviation, Space, and Defense Organizations. This standard has less stringent requirements compared to AS9100, and its intent is to define a quality inspection system, not a quality management system.

AS9003 is recognized in the USA and is intended for smaller companies that might have difficulty meeting all of the AS9100 or ISO 9001 requirements. The AS9003 standard is intended to be “AS9100 Lite” for companies that make non-complex products or provide non-complex services where the quality characteristics can be fully evaluated by measurement and test of the end item without uneconomical disassembly or destructive testing.  It is most common in the space and defense industry when sourcing from small volume manufacturers is necessary to provide the production priority and lead time, which a larger company won’t support.

These small volume manufacturers often don’t have formal quality management systems and don’t meet all the requirements of AS9100, or even ISO 9001.  The Department of Defense (DoD/DCMA), NASA, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Grumman are a few of the companies that allow compliance evidence to AS9003 in lieu of AS9100 or ISO 9001 in their contracts and suplier requirements.

AS9003 is no longer an accredited 3rd party certifiable standard (due to the low volume and low demand for certification). Most registrars do not issue certifications to AS9003.  Therefore, NASA, the DoD and others allow evidence of independent compliance audits versus certification to AS9003.  Let simpleQuE perform your annual compliance audit to AS9003 using AS certified 3rd party auditors. Contact us to get a quote.