Nadcap

Nadcap (formerly NADCAP, the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) is a global cooperative standards-setting program for aerospace engineering, defense and related industries.

History of Nadcap

Nadcap program as a part of PRI (Performance Review Institute) was created in 1990 by the Society of Automotive Engineers and is headquartered in Warrendale, Pennsylvania. Nadcap's membership of "prime contractors" convene to coordinate industry-wide standards for special processes and products. Through the Performance Review Institute, Nadcap provides independent certification of manufacturing processes for the industry. PRI's mission is to "provide international, unbiased, independent manufacturing process and product assessments and certification services for the purpose of adding value, reducing total cost, and facilitating relationships between primes and suppliers." Branch offices of Nadcap are located in London, Beijing, and Nagoya.

Fields of Nadcap activities

Nadcap program give accreditation for such special processes in aerospace and military industry as:

• Chemical Processing (CP)
• Coatings (CT)
• Composite materials
• Deicing (DEICE)
• Elastomer Seals (SEAL)
• Electronics (ETG)
• Fasteners
• Fluid Distribution Systems (FLU)
• Heat Treating (HT)
• Materials Testing Laboratories (MTL)
• Non-Metallic Materials Testing (NMMT)
• Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)
• Nonconventional Machining (NM) (including EDM, ECM, ECG, LBM)
• Sealants (SLT)
• Surface Enhancement (SE) (including shot peening, peen forming, glass beadmaking)
• Welding (WLD)

The Nadcap program and industry

PRI schedules an audit and hires an approved auditor who will conduct the audit against an industry agreed standard using an industry agreed checklist. At the end of the audit, any non-conformity issues will be raised and non-conformance reports issued. PRI will administer close out of the non-conformance reports and upon completion will present the completed audit pack to a 'special process' task group made up from members of industry who will review it and vote on its acceptability for approval.

The Nadcap Prime Contractors are:

• Airbus
• Alenia Aeronautica
• Astrium
• Avio
• BAE Systems
• Ball Aerospace
• Bell Helicopter
• Boeing
• Bombardier
• Cessna Aircraft
• DCMA
• EADS CASA
• Eurocopter
• GE Aviation
• General Dynamics
• General Services Administration (GSA)
• Goodrich
• Hamilton Sundstrand
• Hawker Beechcraft
• Héroux-Devtek
• Honeywell Aerospace
• Honeywell
• Industria de Turbo Propulsores
• Israel Aerospace Industries
• Latecoere
• Liebherr Aerospace
• Lockheed Martin
• MD Helicopters
• MTU Aero Engines
• Northrop Grumman
• Parker Aerospace
• PFW Aerospace
• Pratt & Whitney
• Raytheon
• Rockwell Collins
• Rolls-Royce
• Safran
• Sikorsky Aircraft
• Sonaca
• Spirit AeroSystems
• Textron Systems
• Thales
• U.S. Airforce
• United Space Alliance
• Volvo Aero
• Vought Aircraft

Nadcap Meetings

Nadcap meetings are held several times a year in different locations worldwide. For example, the 2007 meetings were held in Redondo Beach (California) in January; Paris (France) in April; Istanbul (Turkey) in July. The October meeting was held in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). Other locations can be in Europe or Asia. In February 2008 the meeting took place in Rome (Italy). The July meeting is being held in regular place in Pittsburgh. During these meetings there are Task Group discussions and workshops (with participation of primes, suppliers, and PRI staff).

Nadcap Training

During the periodic meetings, Nadcap performs training for airspace industry suppliers in different fields, such as:

• Pyrometry
• Root Cause Corrective Action training - RCCA
• Special processes, such as coating, NDT, chemical processing, etc.
• Internal audits
• AS/EN/JISQ 9100
• Problem Solving Tools

The Nadcap training takes place in different regions — USA, Europe, Far East, simultaneously there are meetings of Task Groups (with participation of primes and suppliers). At times these trainings are offered at times separate from the full Nadcap meetings.

References

• "The Nadcap Organisation." (November 2005) Metal Finishing News
• "Nadcap Prime Contractors and Audit Criteria Specifications Listings." (July 2009)

External links

• Nadcap official site