Military Precision QMS ISO 9001 Recertification

Evahan Assists Elphinstone with its ISO 9001 Recertification

Evahan assisted Elphinstone, with the recertification of its ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) for its two Wynyard based divisions. Elphinstone's Wynyard based business divisions consist of:

1. The assembly of wiring harnesses for underground mining equipment OEMs such as Caterpillar,  large agricultural chemical spray equipment OEMs and its own surface and underground OEM division.
2. The fabrication and manufacture of chassis hulls and turrets for the Huntsman AS9 military fighting combat vehicles and AS10 Huntsman ammunition resupply combat vehicles

Evahan Managing Director and Principal Consultant, Jason Bresnehan, led Elphinstone's senior management team through Evahan's propriety 27 Element QMS Framework to:

1. Significant redesign ad redevelopment of its QMS to incorporate the defence business division products
2. Preparation of a significant amount of new QMS documentation to incorporate the defence business division products
3. Prepare the company for the 2024 ISO 9001 recertification of its QMS by undertaking an internal audit of the QMS as a whole
4.  Assist with the closing of minor nonconformances identified by Evahan in the internal audit
5. Participating in and providing guidance on the day of the External Assessment by an accredited independent ISO 9001 auditor.

Challenges Navigated by Evahan

The fabrication and manufacture of chassis hulls and turrets for the Huntsman AS9 military fighting combat vehicles and AS10 Huntsman ammunition resupply combat vehicles required a new level of complexity in the client's QMS design, development and implementation across most of the 27 elements making up Evahan's 27 Element QMS Framework, including:

• A change of businesses structure with the closure of the passenger bus assembly line and the creation of a military vehicle hull and turret chassis welding and fabrication line
• The introduction of two new highly technically specified products for new primary and secondary customers in the defence sector with new customer requirements such as a compliance with international military welding and fabrication standards, numerous 3rd party verifications related to welding PQRs and new customer requirements with regard to preferred raw materials and component suppliers, supply chain processes, traceability, in processes testing and inspection, primary and secondary customer (the Department of Defence) communication and information security for classified information.
• Comprehensive build manuals add-ons to the existing workflow (job Traveller) system
• New leadership and new organisational structure to dedicate people resources to the defence division
• Changes to the Skills & Competency Matrix and its support procedures to manage the welding qualifications in line with the welding program
• Infrastructure resource changes including a new building, new sequential 19-stage production workflow plan and new equipment
• new inwards goods and storage and preservation procedures
• Sharing of controlled documents across the two business divisions and the creation of Defence specific Procedures, Work Instructions, Manuals and Final Testing and Inspection Plans
• The development of defence division specific engineering drawing controls including the marking-up of engineering drawings produced by the primary customer so that those drawings were adequate for inwards goods inspections for externally provided sub-assembly quality gates as well as the mark-up of fabrication drawings in line with Elphinstone specific welding and fabrication processes which varied from some of the welding and fabrication procedures of Hanwha Aerospace 
• The integration of new procurement plans, production plans, Final testing and Inspection Plans (FITP) quality gates, build manuals and workflow maps into the existing QMS system and documentation
• The integration of new Measuring, Monitoring and Analysis (MMA) procedures and work instructions into the existing QMS system and documentation
• Revision of the internal audit scheduled include internal system, process and inspection audits relating to the manufacture of hulls and turrets for the Huntsman AS9 military fighting combat vehicles and AS10 Huntsman ammunition resupply combat vehicles
• Incorporation of a digital nonconformance and continuous improvement board and related procedures into the existing QMS system and documentation
• Incorporation of new QMS objectives, targets and actual metrics, specifically related to defence into the Management Review process.