Avionics News May 2021 - 13

What differentiates you from your competitors?
What differentiates the repair station from the
independent technician? What differentiates a
dealer from a nondealer? Trust and confidence!

nondealer independent installer? For one, 14 CFR Part
145 repair station regulations. They represent the design,
certification and operation of an agency designed for the
continued airworthiness of aeronautical products. They
represent over 80 years of development; 80 years of history;
80 years of accumulated trust and confidence. 14 CFR
Part 145 is, by definition, a quality management system.
The repair station manual describes how the repair station
satisfies Subpart C, addressing the housing, facilities,
equipment materials and data; Subpart D addresses the
personnel qualifications criteria; and certain parts of the
defined operation in Subpart E. Add to this, a defined
quality control system and you have the basics of a quality
management system.
But it is important to note that the trust and confidence
an organization instills with its customers is not only
through the pages of the regulations. Many businesses are
efficiently run with the elements of a QMS, although they
may not have formally adopted a QMS. Likewise, there
are certificated repair stations that write manuals to satisfy
their authority ( " my inspector says ... " ) and fail to write and
implement the policies and procedures for their employees
and business.
When you consider the elements of AS 9110,
Quality Management System for Aviation Maintenance
Organizations, you find elements of industry best practices
for businesses that instill trust and confidence with their
customers, their employees, and their authorities. Successful
businesses know what their customers, employees and
authorities expect of them and design their operations to
provide assurances and certainty that their operations meet
those expectations.
The fundamentals begin with understanding your
business. Not what you do, anyone can answer that question;

but understanding what each " interested party " expects from
the business. Of course, understanding what your customers
expect is normal, but what about your employees? Your
community? Your authority?
The next element addresses the leadership's role:
" owning " the policies and procedures and truly fulfilling
the role of the accountable manager by establishing the
organization's quality, safety and operational policies. In
addition, the accountable manager first establishes the roles,
responsibilities, and authorities, but then follows up with
accountability.
Following leadership, the organization's staff plans the
operations. They define their life cycle plan from beginning
to end while also considering risk and opportunities. Most
importantly, they also plan for change and continued
improvement. While working on a working group on SMS
recently, it became apparent that there are some low-risk
operations in stable, small businesses compared to large,
dynamic businesses. However, it became evident that
personnel change in a stable, small business can introduce
a greater risk to the safe operation of the business than the
same position change in a constantly changing business,
and therefore, a greater need for a structured change
management process.
A successful business looks at the support infrastructure
not unlike the subparts of 14 CFR Part 145. It considers
PEAR: the people, environment, actions, and resources.
It constantly monitors and measures the resources and
how they support, or fail to support, the operations. It
documents all the necessary operations so those who have
responsibility for roles and responsibilities will be given
clear and consistent guidance. When it looks at the defined
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Avionics News May 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News May 2021
