NADCAP

Nadcap is the abreviation of National Aerospace & Defense Contractors Accreditation Program.  This program was initially conceived by the Department of Defense as a means to ensure consistent aerospace and defense products through the supply chain.  Early on primes such as GE and Pratt & Whitney pushed the program and supported it so that today, 20 years later, virtually every aerospace prime and their major suppliers accross the globe dictate Nadcap accreditation for suppliers who want to participate and do business with those primes.

Nadcap has accreditation programs for many disciplines: chemical processing, testing labs, welding, heat treating, coatings, electronics and much more.  Achieving accreditation requires the supplier have a recognized quality program in place and then the supplier is audited to the standards for the discipline the supplier wants to supply to the aerospace market.  The Nadcap certification is based on an assessment of the supplier's ability to demonstrate that it is able to meet the required specifications of the primes or the military and that the supplier can document compliance for traceablity of all work done for the industry.  Critical aerospace parts that are processed by the supplier must be done in a way that assures proper testing and inspection is done as well.  During the audit, rigorous, in-depth job audits are done by following parts from receiving to final inspection and reviewing all documentation in between.

Bill Corcoran is a Lead Nadcap Auditor and ran a certified supply company in the chemical processing field.  Contact him for advice on the Nadcap process.  Certification is worth the effort because it opens markets otherwise not accessable.