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mt tips

MT Tips

 

 
Audit Tips

Previous findings – In preparation for an audit, make sure you have included assessing to assure previous audit findings have been abated.

Material Certifications – Make sure you have batch certifications for magnetic particle materials that are currently in-use.  In general, the last batch added to a container defines the batch for that container.

Material Identification – Make sure all containers with materials in them are labeled or traceable to the material and batch number of material they contain.  It saves time when the certifications are available for review at the point of use.

Audit Checklists – When you are filling out an audit check sheet, it is a value added practice to note where you found the evidence of compliance (e.g. procedure and paragraph references, certification locations, etc.) so evidence can more easily be found and confirmed by an auditor.  Make sure you carefully read checklist items to assure you cover verifying compliance completely.  For example, consider a requirement that a procedure have the name and address of the facility performing the inspection.  It is fairly common to find where the address of the inspection facility is omitted in the procedure. Procedure

Process Technique Approval – All procedures and process techniques or instruction sheets used for processing and/or evaluation of components must be approved by a level 3 in most cases. It is important to remember that if you are inspecting parts for an aerospace prime that requires them to approve the level 3, that level 3 must approve the procedure and other instructional documents.  If you had a customer approved level 3 and that level 3 no longer works for you, you will have to obtain another approved level 3 and you will likely have to have that person re-approve the previously approved documents.  You may have be able to be creative in how you do this with the least amount of administrative work, but be sure the approving customer agrees in writing, your method of approval.

Process

Parallel Induced Magnetism Method – ASTM E1444-05 revised how to address this method of magnetism.  It now requires approval from the engineering organization (Usually from the end user) before its use.  If you have legacy techniques using this method of magnetism, be sure you obtain the proper approvals from the engineering organization as described in the ASTM document before continuing its use.

Records – Make sure you now record somewhere what specifications were used for the inspection and the revisions of the specification used.  This can be in a job log or on a final test report.  It is important for a prime customer to be able to trace an inspection to the specific acceptance criteria use at the time a component was inspected.

Trainees – When you are training someone in the process and they have a trainee status, make sure you are documenting all training they receive and that they do not independently perform any operations unsupervised, unless detailed appropriate documents are in place and approved by the level 3.

Process Control

Light Meters – Is it now a requirement that light meters used to measure UV (Black Light) or white light intensities be digital meters.  For black light measurements, the meter must have a spectral sensitivity from 320-400 nm.

Hall Effect Meter and Mag Unit Calibration – Make sure that the calibration covers the range of use for these units for gauss and ammeter accuracy required.

Test Ring Systems Check – When you use test rings (i.e. KETOS or AS5282) and you overshoot the target amperage during the check you will need to demagnetize the ring and re-shoot at or below the target amperage.  Reference ASTM E-1444 for amperages to use depending the which ring you are using.  I have seen operators exercise two options when setting amperages for the check.  One option is to set the unit to coil and set the amperage and re-set to contacts, and the second option was to place the central conductor in the contacts, set the amperage, then place the ring on the central conductor. Make sure you are using the right test ring for the system check if a ring is used. GE Aviation currently requires the use of the older "KETOS" ring unless they approve otherwise. This requires some facilities to perform a system check with two test rings, an AS 5282 and a KETOS ring.

Eye Adaptation – It is now generally not required to have a calibrated timing device to adapt your eyes before performing evaluations on parts under black light, however, some form of timing device needs to be used to assure minimum eye adaptation times are met.  A simple timer that can be set, button started and then resets to the set time is a best bet, however, a stop watch or wrist watch could be used as well.  Just make sure not the leave it up to guessing as an audit finding could occur.

Process Control Failures – Make sure you procedurally cover what to do if a process control check fails, including notification of customer if parts cannot be re-inspected or have been shipped before the failure was found.  If you record the check as a failure, make adjustments and bring the check into compliance with requirements, make sure you re-record the accepted check.

Procurement

Purchasing and P.O.'s - It is vital to flow down all required technical information on a P.O. to the subcontractor who is providing you with a product or service. Keep in mind that anything required to meet a specification should have that specification referenced either on the P.O. or a document containing the specification requirements should be referenced on the P.O.

Examples -
  • For fluorescent magnetic particles purchased, state on the P.O. that "the materials must meet and be certified to AMS 3044".
  • For testing of magnetic particle materials tested by an outside subcontractor, state what specification must be complied with and the acceptance limits the material must meet..
  • For having parts penetrant tested by a testing lab, give adequate identification (P/N, Drawing Revisions, etc.) state what specifications and revisions the part must be tested and certified to meet.
  • For calibrations, state the standard to be used, accuracy requirements, range to be checked and the number of points over the range to be checked, frequency, and what calibration system requirements must be met (e.g. ANSI/NCSL Z540–1 or ISO 10012–1). Note: If you have a subcontractor that calibrates a number of items, this technical information could be documented in a spreadsheet and given identification for procedure and other tracability (i.e. and document title or form number) and this document could be referenced on a P.O. and sent to the calibration source. As the document is revised because of change in requirements or items to calibrate, you can just send the revised document to your calibration source.

 

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