A Letter from the Nadcap SSC Chair

Travel in on Sunday to take advantage of Monday morning supplier events!

Hello, fellow Nadcap suppliers! In keeping with the Supplier Support Committee’s (SSC) ongoing communication efforts, this letter is intended to provide a brief summary to all suppliers about the recent Nadcap meeting held October 25 – 27 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This was my fourth as the SSC Chair, and I continue to feel honored to represent you while being humbled by the task. 488 suppliers attended the Pittsburgh meeting, 153 of whom attended the SSC general meeting Tuesday afternoon. Important news applicable to suppliers was shared at this meeting, including:
  • We are reorganizing our SSC sponsored events in February 2017 to have most of them on Monday morning when most task groups are not open to suppliers. This will allow for fewer conflicts for suppliers attending Nadcap meetings. Our general meeting remains scheduled for Tuesday evening.
  • Supplier events planned for February 20 and 21 in New Orleans, LA, include:
    • A powerful line-up of events designed to provide information on the Nadcap system that will be particularly useful to new participants and first time meeting attendees start at 8 AM on Monday: SSC Leadership Team Opening Reception for all suppliers – chat with experienced suppliers and learn more about the process, one on one; a new and improved Supplier Tutorial; Keys to a Successful Audit, shared by an experienced supplier; eAuditNet Tutorial, presented by PRI staff; and a session on Supplier Voting Membership, which summarizes the benefits and responsibilities of task group participation.
    • Subscriber Updates – come and hear what is happening with Nadcap Subscribers - Rolls-Royce and Lockheed Martin will share updates to their companies with suppliers (Monday).
    • Summary of ISO 9001:2015 / 9100D Changes, which informs suppliers of the changes to the quality system standards that they will need to implement (Monday).
    • SSC General meeting featuring supplier news and updates on the survey actions (Tuesday afternoon). We hope to have a follow up from Nadcap Management Council members on the new self-audit requirements as well. We are planning on 2 breakout sessions to get your input: What should be included in an Auditee Communications Kit, and how can the SSC and Nadcap better communicate to the suppliers? Come and share your ideas!
Make your travel arrangements now, and try to travel Sunday to take advantage of our new Monday line up – the hotel is expected to fill up quickly since it is the week before Mardi Gras. Check back on the p-r-i.org web site to stay apprised of agenda changes.
  • Be aware of upcoming changes: As part of an effort to improve audit effectiveness suppliers will be required to provide a completed self-audit to the auditor at least 30 days prior to the audit, applicable for all task groups. Those not submitting a completed self-audit – including job audits as required by the task group - will be subject to a minor NCR.
    • In addition, auditors will be expected to select those jobs they would like to audit.
  • Actions identified from our most recent supplier survey were reviewed with the suppliers attending the SSC general meeting on Tuesday. We will track and report the progress on these action items.
  • Suppliers who do not regularly attend the Nadcap task group meetings can still participate in checklist development if they request to be added to the task group roster. Such suppliers do not have a vote on checklist content but can comment on proposed changes being balloted. Requests to be added to task group rosters should be made to task group chairs and staff engineers.
  • To improve accountability the SSC operating procedure OP 1123 is being revised to clarify roles and responsibilities for those responsible to be the voice of the supplier in the program. It is now in the final stage of approval (NMC affirmation ballot) and will available for viewing on eAuditNet.
  • As a reminder, task group minutes are posted on the p-r-i.org website, beginning the week of 14-Nov-2016, so take advantage and review them if you did not attend this meeting.
  • We are providing a list via email of those checklists which are being revised and/or balloted. You asked for more information about checklist revisions, and we heard you.
It is my hope that this meeting summary has been of value to you and has provided some reasons for joining us in New Orleans - I hope to see you there. In the meantime please let us know how we may better serve you by using the SSC Request Form which can be found online at p-r-i.org. In your service, Dale Harmon (Cincinnati Thermal Spray) Chair, Nadcap Supplier Support Committee