Certifications

Certifications define a shop’s quality, regulatory, and special-process capabilities, enabling compliant, traceable manufacturing for regulated and high-risk applications.

Overview

Certifications define how a supplier controls quality, traceability, compliance, and special processes—not how they cut chips. They tell you whether a shop can legally and reliably build parts for aerospace, medical, automotive, defense, or other regulated applications.

Common frameworks include ISO 9001 for general quality management, AS9100 for aerospace, ISO 13485 for medical devices, and IATF 16949 for automotive. ITAR registration, DFARS compliance, FFL, and NADCAP cover defense, specialty materials, firearms, and special processes like heat treat or coating. ISO 14001 focuses on environmental management. You choose certifications based on your end-use market, customer contracts, export controls, and risk tolerance.

The tradeoff is cost and lead time. Certified shops invest heavily in documentation, audits, and controlled processes, which you pay for. In exchange you get consistent quality, audit-ready records, and reduced program risk. For commodity parts where failure is low-risk, full aerospace or medical certifications may be overkill; for safety-critical or export-controlled hardware, they’re mandatory.

Common Materials

  • Aluminum 6061
  • Stainless Steel 304
  • Ti-6Al-4V
  • Inconel 718
  • ABS
  • PEEK

Tolerances

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Applications

  • Flight-critical aerospace brackets and housings
  • Orthopedic implants and surgical instruments
  • Automotive safety and powertrain components
  • Defense weapon components and mounts
  • NADCAP-controlled heat-treated or plated parts
  • Environmentally regulated production programs

When to Choose Certifications

Use certified suppliers when your parts feed into regulated industries, safety-critical systems, export-controlled programs, or customer contracts that explicitly call out standards like AS9100, ISO 13485, or IATF 16949. They’re also valuable when you need robust traceability, repeatability across large production runs, and an auditable quality system that stands up to OEM or regulatory scrutiny.

vs Uncertified job shop

Choose a certified supplier when you need documented quality systems, traceability, and controlled processes rather than relying on a shop’s informal practices. Certifications reduce risk of nonconformances, missing records, and failed customer or regulatory audits.

vs ISO 9001 only

Step up to industry-specific certifications like AS9100, ISO 13485, or IATF 16949 when your customer, OEM, or regulator requires sector-specific controls, documentation, and risk management beyond generic ISO 9001. This becomes critical for flight hardware, medical devices, and automotive safety parts.

vs In-house manufacturing without certifications

Outsource to certified suppliers when you lack the internal quality system, export control registrations, or NADCAP special-process approvals required for your program. This avoids the cost and delay of standing up full compliance internally while still meeting contract requirements.

vs Multiple small suppliers with mixed compliance

Use a single broadly certified supplier when you want consistent quality, unified documentation, and simplified audits instead of managing varying levels of compliance across many shops. This helps complex programs with overlapping aerospace, medical, or defense requirements.

vs Self-certified or customer-audited-only suppliers

Prefer formally certified suppliers when you need third-party-verified systems rather than relying only on your own audits. External certifications like AS, ISO, and NADCAP provide stronger evidence to primes, regulators, and end customers.

Design Considerations

  • Call out required certifications and clauses on drawings, PO, and specs (e.g., AS9100, ITAR, DFARS, NADCAP process, ISO 13485) so shops can quote accurately
  • Specify documentation deliverables up front: material certs, C of C, FAIR/FAI, PPAP, control plans, inspection reports, and lot traceability
  • Flag ITAR or export-controlled work early and provide jurisdiction/classification so only registered suppliers quote
  • Identify which features are critical-to-quality (CTQ) to focus inspection plans and control costs
  • Standardize materials, coatings, and special processes around commonly NADCAP-approved options to expand your qualified supplier pool
  • Align drawing notes and internal specs with the cited certification standards to avoid conflicting requirements during audits and inspections