Control of External Providers
A part of our business is Design & Development although we do not currently have a contract to do this work nor had one since our AS9100 certification last year. So, at this time, I would say this activity is more like freelance prototyping. To create the design specimen, we use several external providers. I believe, since we have not sold our design nor sold any products to customers yet, I would not have to go through the rigor of controlling external providers under the standard. My fear is, an external auditor may feel differently. Your thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.
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AS9100 DOCUMENTATION TOOLKIT
Step-by-step implementation for smaller companies.
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AS9100 DOCUMENTATION TOOLKIT
Step-by-step implementation for smaller companies.
Find out more
AS9100 DOCUMENTATION TOOLKIT
Step-by-step implementation for smaller companies.
Find out more
I am afraid I disagree that you should not be using external providers as per the standard just because you don’t have a customer contract for the work.
The control of external providers in clause 8.4 should not be dependant on the contract, it should be how you contract externally provided processes. For instance, clause 8.4.1 requires controls over accepting who to procure from, and I am sure this took place and you didn’t randomly choose someone. Clause 8.4.2 requires that you determine the control needed, and clause 8.4.3 requires that the information you send is enough to ensure you get what you need form the provider; I am sure you also did this.
If you read the requirement, many of the clauses are to be applied as applicable, and can be tailored to your needs, but to not apply any level of control would be problematic.
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Jun 04, 2020