THE Institute of Instrumentation, Control and Automation (IICA) has formed a joint Working Party with RMIT to address concerns by manufacturers about non-compliance and lack of proper understanding of a number of mandatory International Standards and other regulatory requirements in areas of instrumentation and calibration in sections of the aerospace industry.
This non-compliance is particularly prevalent among external contractors and sub contractors who form part of the supply chain of fabricators, suppliers of instrumentation (such as temperature controllers and thermo couples), calibration service providers, end users and others in the maintenance of airworthiness of commercial and defence aircraft.
This awareness has been the impetus for the IICA and its RMIT collaborators to commence a two-tier strategy to assist those contractors and subcontractors to become compliant with their mandatory regulatory requirements.
The strategy comprises designing and developing tailored training courses to address the specific areas that are currently not understood properly. A sample of these includes lack of understanding of mandatory International Standards like AMS275OD or the airline equivalent parallel codes as used by the large aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and components like Rolls Royce and GE engines, including the interrelationships between them all.
The courses will be designed within the competency framework of Training Packages that RMIT, with input from industry experts, like Furnace Engineering. An additional critical objective will be to ensure they conform to CASA’s New Maintenance Regulations as well as to their Defence equivalents.
The second tier of the outcomes oriented strategy will be the initiation of a Registration System which the IICA will develop and maintain via its website. This System will list and maintain those companies and individuals who satisfactorily complete the Training Courses, or who can demonstrate equivalent competencies.
The two-tiered approach is geared to address the current gap in this area of aerospace maintenance and will provide a Risk Minimisation assurance for both commercial and Defence aircraft. The Registration System will allow for further Quality Assurance to end users who will, by clicking on to the IICA Registration website, access suppliers and service providers with greater assurance than is the case today.
Likewise, auditors will of course have access to the System as well, and will use it to assist in facilitating their scheduled audits, by seeing which companies have been deemed to be compliant.
The two-tiered outcomes oriented approach is unique in Australia and will close a gap that, if unaddressed, will culminate in a risk taking culture.
Dirk Kuiper is IICA Federal President.
IICA
1300 781 715