AQAP
Introduction
Since the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO countries have been supervising the quality of delivered products. It also involves systems functioning in supplying organizations. Such requirements were included in standardization documents of particular countries and were attached to signed contracts (for example: American standards - MIL-STD Military Standard, British Standard - BS or NATO publications - AQAP - Allied Quality Assurance Publication).
In 1987, when ISO 9000 standards were published, NATO countries decided to adapt these standards as a basis for NATO publications concerning quality management systems for suppliers. Basing on ISO standards' structure and requirements, new editions of AQAP were published. The 2003 amendment of AQAP is based on a model of ISO 9001:2000 standard. Since AQAP publications are mainly used as contract documents, the requirements haven't been replaced by a single document. According to the old philosophy of ISO 9000 standards of 1994, the scope of applications remains divided. All the other characteristics of a new approach to quality management according to ISO 9001:2000 have been fully applied.
n 2005, a new AQAP 2105 concerning regulations for developing quality plans was developed. In 2006 and 2009 were mode another AQAP amendments, in results of which following contract documents are binding:
AQAP 2110:2009, edition 3 - "NATO Quality Assurance Requirements for Design, Development and Production".
AQAP 2120:2009, edition 3 - "NATO Quality Assurance Requirements for Production".
AQAP 2130:2009, edition 3 - "NATO Quality Assurance Requirements for Inspection and Test".
AQAP 2210:2006, edition 1 - "NATO Supplementary Software Quality Assurance Requirements to AQAP 2110".
AQAP 2105:2009, edition 2 - "NATO Requirements for Deliverable Quality Plans".
During the implementation of quality management system, the supplier can refer to the following:
AQAP 2009:2006 - "NATO Guidance on the Use of AQAP 2000 Series".
AQAP 2131:2006 - "NATO Quality Assurance Requirements for Final Inspection".
AQAP 2105:2005 - "NATO Requirements for Deliverable Quality Plans".
AQAP 2210:2006 - "NATO Supplementary Software Quality Assurance Requirements to AQAP 2110".
For monitoring quality assurance systems for suppliers, NATO countries have to comply with: STANAG 4107, edition 7 - which defines monitoring regulations for a delivery quality management system called GQA - Government Quality Assurance and introduces AQAP publications
AQAP 2000 - NATO Policy on an Integrated Systems Approach to Quality through the Life Cycle.
The main NATO objective in quality management of supplies is to implement such a system where particular countries would be able to produce and supply a safe, reliable and economical product for military purposes. In order to achieve this objective, the following quality policy has been developed which assumes that:
- all parties involved are responsible for the product quality. It refers to User, Purchaser, Supplier and GQA Supervising Staff throughout the life cycle of a product.
he risk connected with the realization of the contract, which is the basis for a decision on conducting the process of Government Quality Assurance (GQA), is estimated and monitored. Supplier has the main role in the system. The Supplier's quality management system should be implemented in compliance with a proper contract-type AQAP.
The benefits of quality management system certification according to AQAP:
- growth of competitiveness on the market,
- fulfilling purchaser's requirements,
- decrease of risk connected with contracts,
- guaranteed traceability of processes,
- growth of effectiveness and efficiency of processes.
According to AQAP requirements “Certification criteria in compliance with the requirements of …” Ore used for conformity assessment of management system. The audit criteria and thereupon organizations being audited and certified by ZSJZ are obliged to comply with resolutions, contained in criteria. Download file :
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