April - The Monty Heat Treat News

aerospace primes as a mark of quality assurance excellence. The West Yorkshire
Company also gained coveted Merit grade, which rewards superior performance in
Nadcap audits and reduces subsequent audit frequency. Accreditation has also
prompted affirmation and prolongation of its Airbus approval, the aircraft
manufacturer having adopted the Nadcap program for its global supply chain. As
one of the few Nadcap-accredited MTL facilities in the UK, Keighley Labs has been
successfully assessed for the evaluation of aerospace welds, tensile, impact and
bend testing, metallographic and micro indentation hardness procedures, and
specimen preparation and machining. Combined with UKAS accredited testing and
certification to many international standards and Civil Aviation Authority approval of
in-house weld specimen supervisors, this confirms the company as a centre of
excellence for weld testing, at a time when there is a Europe-wide shortage of the
necessary expertise.
“Achieving Nadcap accreditation is not easy; it is one of the ways
in which the aerospace industry identifies those who excel in
superior special processes. Companies such as Keighley
Laboratories go above and beyond achieving Nadcap accreditation,
to obtain Merit status, and they should be justifiably proud of
that,” says Joe Pinto, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer at the Performance Review Institute, which administers the
Nadcap programme. “We are determined to support continual
improvement in the aerospace industry, by helping companies such
as Keighley Labs become even more successful.” Established in
1990 by key aerospace industry and US government
representatives, Nadcap represents a concerted, cooperative effort
to improve quality, while reducing costs, throughout the global
aerospace and defence sectors. It defines a standardised approach
to quality assurance and establishes requirements for
accreditation, improving performance throughout the supply chain,
utilising expert auditors to ensure familiarity with special processes
and conducting technically superior in-depth quality audits. With
most aerospace prime contractors and secondary tier suppliers
now adhering to Nadcap, accreditation is vital for securing
subcontracting opportunities in this sector, as well as in qualityminded
markets like nuclear, marine, defence and rail, with more than half of
accredited companies reporting an upturn in sales and new business.
“This is an important breakthrough for the company, since it raises our profile and
reputation within the aerospace industry and enables us to obtain greater
recognition for our expertise in weld and materials testing,” says Keighley Labs’ MD,
Debbie Mellor. “It helps us to retain existing customers within the Northwest
Aerospace Alliance and beyond, establishes our technical credentials for fresh
market opportunities in other industries and paves the way for further export
business in weld testing and other special processes.” The Keighley Labs’ Nadcap
application, which was supported by numerous key aerospace customers and Airbus
itself, involved Divisional Technical Services Director, Matthew Mellor, Senior
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