OC-ALC committed to earning certification Published April 16, 2009 By OC-ALC/XPT TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., -- The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center is preparing for an external audit that will determine whether the center earns a critical aerospace certification. While striving to maintain AS9100 certification, the center is also working toward earning AS9110 certification when a team of auditors visits the Oklahoma City Air Logistics' Center April 20-24. Focused on the needs of the maintenance, repair and overhaul segment of the aerospace industry, AS9110 includes requirements pertaining to safety, reliability and airworthiness issues in aircraft MRO operations. "Over the years, our work force has done a tremendous job making sure we earn and maintain ISO certifications," said Mr. Wade Wolfe, OC-ALC Quality Management Representative. "Achieving AS9110 certification is especially important because it directly ties into our continuous process improvement efforts, which are vital to the future of the Air Force." A significant goal of the AS9110 quality plan is to adopt a process-oriented method of management. The AS9110 aerospace maintenance system emphasizes the importance of: understanding, meeting and integrating customer requirements considering processes in terms of added value obtaining results of process performance and effectiveness continuous improvement of processes based on objective measurement "Customer requirements, adding value...these aren't just buzz words," said Mr. Wolfe. "They really encompass everything we are focusing on to posture the center to meet future warfighter demands on time and on cost. Having a quality management system that supports continuous process improvement is critical to our efforts. Other than the safety of our people, nothing is more important than making sure the quality of the products we deliver is unsurpassed." To help prepare the center for the audit, center quality representatives are prepping the work force to answer questions auditors may ask, including: what are your processes, and how do they support the center's mission, quality policy, strategic goals, and objectives, all of which can be found on OC-ALC/XPTs homepage. The work force will also need to know the names of the quality representatives: Quality Management Representative (Wade Wolfe), Maintenance Manager (Dan McCabe), and Accountable Executive Manager (Robert Valdez). "I feel confident we'll be ready when QMI/SAI comes to OC-ALC, and we'll add AS9110 to our arsenal of certifications," said Mr. Wolfe. "This will only help us level the playing field with private industry as we compete for and win new workload."