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 the 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.
Using the ISO 9001 system as a basis, the site adapted their quality programs and organizational structure, developing new quality documentation and team training 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 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 the Saint-Gobain Seals’ Suwa site.
