Production · 14 CFR Part 21
Make approved parts, and prove every one.
A Part 21 manufacturer lives on proof. Every part that leaves the building has to trace back to approved design data, approved material and sources, qualified people and processes, and an inspection that shows it conforms. MRO Tracker's Production workspace keeps that chain in one place, from the released drawing to the signed FAA Form 8130-3.
For PMA, TSOA, STC and production certificate holders. Organizations under EASA Part 21 issue the EASA Form 1 instead.
What's in Production
From released design data to a signed release.
One production order carries everything an inspector, an auditor or the FAA will ask to see, and the records lock as they're signed.
Approvals and design data
TC, STC, PMA, TSOA and production certificate approvals with their eligibility and status. Each product has revisions that hold the drawings and specifications, bill of materials, routing and inspection characteristics. A released revision changes only through a change order.
Orders and travelers
Production orders are made from the released revision, and the traveler comes from the routing. Operations are signed in order by the operator and accepted by an independent inspector, by serial number or by lot. Special processes are done by qualified people or approved sources, with their certificates. A contract review with the customer's special requirements can be required before release, and labor hours are logged against each operation's estimate.
Material and suppliers
Material is issued from Stores with its batch, serial number and certificate. The approved supplier list covers processes, material, distributors and calibration, with expiry dates and flow-down acknowledgement, and production requirements print on purchase orders to those suppliers. Authority delegated to a supplier, such as source inspection, is recorded with its scope, period and conditions.
Inspection and first article
Measurements are recorded against the drawing limits, pass or fail is worked out for you, and gauges are checked for calibration. AS9102 first article inspection, full or partial, comes due automatically for a new part, a design change or a production lapse. If calibration finds a gauge out of tolerance, a recall lists everything it measured since its last good calibration.
Final inspection and release
Final inspection, an as-built record for every serial number, and the FAA Form 8130-3 or EASA Form 1 with its own numbering. An export release states the importing country's special requirements in block 12. A form can be voided with a reason, never edited, and records are kept for the retention period, longer for critical parts.
Nonconformance and escapes
NCRs with Material Review Board dispositions and engineering references. Suspected unapproved or counterfeit parts are quarantined. Quality escapes run the 24-hour clock of 21.3 (72 hours under EASA 21.A.3A) with alerts by email, Microsoft Teams and text as it runs down, and field reports link to the escape.
Shipping and certificate of conformance
Released parts go out on a shipment with a packing slip and a certificate of conformance in your own words. Each serial number is marked shipped to that customer, so a field report or an escape finds who holds which part. A shipped shipment stays on file.
ICA and airworthiness directives
Instructions for continued airworthiness, flight manual supplements and service bulletins by revision, with the holders and who has the current one, sent by email with a download link (21.50). An AD against your own approval is evaluated and raised as a change order (21.99).
Gauge recall and gauge R&R
When calibration finds a gauge out of tolerance, the recall shows every measurement it made since its last good calibration, by order and serial, with parts already released or shipped flagged. Gauge R&R studies give repeatability, reproducibility, %GRR and distinct categories.
Configuration and certification
Change the design without losing the thread.
Changes, baselines, requirements and certification work live next to the parts they affect.
Engineering change orders
Each change is classified minor or major, approved by engineering and quality, and released with its effectivity and work-in-progress disposition. A major change needs the reference of the FAA approval before quality can approve it, and a partial first article follows the change.
Baselines
Functional, allocated and product baselines. A product baseline is taken automatically each time a revision is released, so you can always show what was approved when a part was made.
Requirements and traceability
Import requirements from ReqIF, SysML v2 or CSV, trace them to characteristics, tests and documents, see what is covered, and export ReqIF back to your modeling tools.
Compliance and conformity
A compliance register with the certification basis and means of compliance, conformity inspection requests and statements of conformity, kept with the project and its documents. Design reviews are recorded with participants, outcome and actions.
Built for the quality system
The evidence is already there when the audit comes.
- Statistical process control. Control charts with Cp and Cpk for every key characteristic, from the results your inspectors already record.
- Compliance matrix. 21.137 (a) to (o), the holder's obligations, AS9100 and IA9100, each with how it's met and the screen that holds the evidence.
- Roles that match the work. Planner, operator, inspector, Material Review Board, engineer, signatory, quality manager, accountable manager and shipping, with independent inspection enforced.
- The accountable manager and the FAA. The accountable manager signs each quality manual revision, changes notified to the FAA are recorded, and a facility move waits for the FAA's approval.
- Records that stay put. Signed operations, measurements and issued forms can't be changed. A re-measurement keeps the earlier result as superseded.
- One system. Stores, purchasing, quality, tool calibration and Microsoft Teams in MRO Tracker feed Production, so nothing is typed twice.
See Production with your own part.
Read how one part goes from released design data to a signed 8130-3, or ask us to walk through one of yours.
References to 14 CFR Part 21, FAA Form 8130-3, EASA Part 21, AS9100, AS9102, IA9100 and EIA-649 describe what MRO Tracker supports. MRO Tracker and Leesburg Aviation LLC are not affiliated with or approved by the FAA, EASA, SAE International or the IAQG.