Saint-Gobain Seals’ manufacturing site in Suwa, Japan, has been JISQ9100 certified for “design, development and manufacturing of seal products,” an industry-recognized quality management system (QMS) certification for organizations that design, manufacture, install or service products within the Aviation, Space and Defense (ASD) sectors. Known as AS9100 in the Americas and EN9100 in Europe, the prestigious certification combines ISO 9001 quality standard specifications with additional aerospace-related requisites; demonstrates maturity of a business’ aerospace quality management system throughout the intricate global supply chain; and proves how a business consistently meets customer and regulatory requirements. Due to high levels of risk in this industry, these quality requirements are critical to aerospace manufacturers and therefore, most major OEMs operating on a global level require their suppliers to obtain this certification.
The Suwa site has been ISO 9001 certified since 1994 with the production of OmniSeal polymer spring-energized and rotary lip seals commencing in 2001. Initially serving the aerospace market as a supplier to the Japanese Ministry of Defense in 2006, the site entered the civil aerospace industry in 2016, transferring advanced manufacturing technology from Saint-Gobain Seals’ Garden Grove plant in California, USA, which is well known for supporting key aviation and space customers such as NASA. With business expanding to the space industry, the Suwa site decided in 2018 to certify operations and obtain the JISQ9100 certification.
Using the ISO 9001 system as a basis, the site adapted their quality programs and organizational structure, developing new quality documentation and team training in order to meet the necessary additional stringent requirements. The Suwa site launched the JISQ9100 certification process in June 2019, which involved the entire Saint-Gobain Seals’ operation teams (design, engineering, production, purchasing and customer service) as well as their sales teams. The site underwent a rigorous audit by an external third party accredited registrar in order to receive the certification. Currently, there are over 700 production sites that are JISQ9100 certified in Japan; however, there are only two local seals manufacturer sites that have this certification – one of which is Saint-Gobain Seals’ Suwa site.
Kenichi Yanagisawa, Suwa Plant Manager, stated, “This certificate is an endorsement of our capabilities to meet the high quality standards demanded by the aerospace industry. This is a new step in our journey to expand our presence in the aerospace market and to continue close co-development with the industry players to design and manufacture sealing solutions to meet tomorrow’s demand.”
With this recent JISQ9100 certification, Saint-Gobain Seals and their local Japan team predict that they will be able to further their footprint and presence as a domestic seals manufacturer, not only for existing customers but potential ones as well. The new certification also reinforces Saint-Gobain Seals’ global reach into the aviation market, enabling an even more supportive and closer relationship with their customers regardless of region, especially now within the Asia-Pacific region that shows the highest growth potential. With the Suwa site, shorter lead times including a shorter supply chain are sustained, leading to improved customer service. New product development will be maintained by global support expertise along with local support facilitation, providing a closer support system for military programs in Japan as well as improving current support on civil programs. The development of OmniSeal sealing solutions at the Suwa plant will cover a wide range of aviation applications, from bleed air and deicing systems, jet engine lubrication systems to flight control actuators, to name a few.
The addition of this recent JISQ9100 certification adds to the business’ other global aerospace certificates:
- AS9100, Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, which designs and manufactures Meldin polyimide solutions
- AS9100, Garden Grove, California, USA, where polymer seals are designed and manufactured for aviation and space industries
- AS9100, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, which supports aviation and industrial industries with composite solutions
- AS9100, Orange, Connecticut, USA, that develops metal sealing technology for aviation systems and power generation gas turbines
- AS9100, Mechelen, Belgium, whose resilient metal seals are valuable in applications with extreme temperature and pressure
- EN9100, Kontich, Belgium, which has expanded to focus on aerospace needs
