Responsible for approvals, auditing and development of Suppliers

After leaving SWMF, I was contacted by the Quality Director of Tods Aerospace Ltd who was keen to employ me due to my extensive previous experience at AgustaWestland (UK). I was happy to join the Company as I was well aware of the quality of their work and general approach through Special Process audits when I was at AW(UK).The role that I accepted was Project Quality Engineer for the HAV LEMV programme which is an experimental airship project. I had responsibility for all areas of Quality and Inspection on the project including Manufacturing Instructions, PFMEAs/Problem Solving and auditing of sub-contract suppliers. As of April 2011, I have been employed as Deputy Head of Quality with responsibility for retention of existing Quality approvals as well as new approvals such as NADCAP. I was instrumental in gaining NADCAP NDT approval in May 2012 and AS9100 Rev C (achieved April 2012). I also have additional responsibilities for Quality Assurance of aircraft programmes such as AW(UK) Lynx Wildcat structures and Airbus (UK) A400M and A350 programmes, including PFMEA of new processes and root cause analysis of non-conforming product.

After 9 months at HS Claverham, I was approached by the Technical Director of SWMF with the offer of the Group Quality Manager role and I was pleased to take on this challenge. SWMF is a company which performs high quality surface treatments for Aerospace, Automotive and general Engineering customers.In my role as Quality Manager, I had responsibility for all aspects of Quality at the Exeter site, including maintenance of 3rd party approvals for BS EN ISO9001:2008, AS9100, NADCAP Chemical Processing and Non-Destructive testing and various Customer approvals (AgustaWestland, Rolls-Royce, Airbus UK, BAE Systems). I was the sole contact point with PRI for the maintenance of NADCAP approvals and responses to audit non-conformances. I also managed a team of 8 staff consisting of 4 Inspectors, 2 auditors and 2 contract reviewers.In response to internal and external non-conformances, I employed root cause analysis to enable effective corrective and preventive actions to be determined and implemented and subsequently verified for effectiveness. Where necessary, I instigated 8D reports for in-depth analysis of Quality issues. In addition I oversaw the on-going Lean activities we undertook to comply with the SC21 initiative. A background in Special Processes and Production Engineering allowed me to apply my knowledge of the processes involved in addition to Quality Systems considerations. I compiled statistical information on our Quality performance measured against agreed KPIs which I presented at the monthly Management Meeting. I also had overall responsibility for Quality at three other sites within the EIC Group (Yeovil, Exeter Airport and Chippenham). I was instrumental in gaining NADCAP Chemical Processing approval for both the Chippenham and Exeter Airport sites.

After nearly 20 years experience at AW(UK) I joined HS Claverham as their dedicated AS9100 Quality Management System Internal auditor. In addition to performing and verifying all internal audits, I also managed the audit schedule and the corrective and preventive action database. I acted as Quality contact when being audited by external auditors, e.g. LRQA, FAA, customers (Sikorsky, AgustaWestland etc). I was required to set timescales and objectives for corrective and preventive actions and also to obtain verification where relevant from the action owners. I presented my audit findings and KPIs on a weekly basis to the Corrective Action Board with recommendations for continual improvement. I also liaised closely with Production Engineering and Assembly to work together in finding solutions to specific Engineering problems.In addition to internal auditing, I also performed QMS, Vital Part and Special Process audits on suppliers. I was part of several ‘ACE’ (Hamilton Sundstrand Lean initiative) quality improvement teams concerning First Article Inspection Report and Product Conformity.

I joined the AW(UK) Materials Laboratory in 1988 and undertook a full Technical traineeship concurrent with studying for an HNC in Engineering. After successfully completing my traineeship, I became a Special Process Auditor, in which role I had nearly 18 years’ experience.My principal task was to audit sub-contractors to approve them to perform Special Processes for AW(UK) contracts. This covered such areas as Non-Destructive testing, surface treatments (plating etc), painting, heat-treatment, surface improvement and composites/bonding. It also covered all relevant areas of Quality Systems.I was required to travel frequently in this role and consequently I have extensive experience in dealing with suppliers in India, North America, Scandinavia and Germany.My other roles included:- Team Leader for initial approvals at overseas/off-set suppliers.- Liaison with suppliers to provide technical support and respond to queries on technical (Special Process) and quality matters.- Technical liaison with AW(UK) Supplier Quality and AW(UK) Transmissions Quality Depts.- Technical liaison with AW(UK) Stress and Design Depts- Technical liaison with Boeing Mesa MP & S (Engineering).- Management of the Mat Lab Special Process Audit Schedule.- Airworthiness approval of sub-contractor Vital Part manufacturing layoutsFrom October 1999 to June 2001 I was the AW(UK) Materials Laboratory representative in the multi-disciplinary Product Assurance (Critical Parts) Department. This was a new department that controlled all matters concerning Critical Parts on- and off-site. I was instrumental in the establishment of this department with regard to Special Processes and materials.