What to Look for in an AS9100 Precision Machining Partner
The short answer: A strong aerospace machining partner holds AS9100 certification at the facility that will make your part, runs AS9102 First Article Inspection as standard practice, has recent experience with the alloys on your drawing, meets ITAR requirements when the program calls for it, and has enough capacity across more than one site to absorb a schedule change. Certification gets a supplier onto your approved list. How they handle tolerances, paperwork and late-breaking changes decides whether they stay there.
Most aerospace sourcing problems start with a supplier who looked fine on paper. The certificate was current, the quote was competitive and the first parts passed. Then a rev change landed, a material lot ran late, or a second program competed for the same machines, and the delivery dates started to slide. The questions below are built to surface those risks before the purchase order goes out.
1. Confirm AS9100 covers the facility making your part
An AS9100 certificate applies to specific sites and scopes. A supplier with several plants may hold it at one location and run your work at another. Ask which facility will machine your part and request that site’s certificate and scope statement.
2. Ask how First Article Inspection is handled
AS9102 First Article Inspection (FAI) documents that the first production part matches every characteristic on the drawing. A supplier who treats FAI as routine will send a complete package the first time. Ask for a sample FAI report with the customer details removed, and ask how long their packages typically take to clear review.
3. Match their material experience to your drawing
Inconel, stainless steel and aerospace aluminum each behave differently at the spindle. Nickel alloys like Inconel hold heat and wear tools quickly, which makes tool life and cutting strategy part of the quality plan. Ask what they have machined in your material in the last year and how they adjust feeds, speeds and tooling for it.
4. Find out how tolerances hold across a full production run
Holding a tight tolerance on a first article is one test. Holding it on part 400 is the one that matters to your line. Ask how they inspect in process, how often they check critical features and what happens when a measurement starts to drift.
5. Verify ITAR compliance for defense work
If your part is controlled under ITAR, the supplier must be registered and must control who can access your technical data. Ask how drawings are stored, who on their team can view them and how they handle export-controlled files across multiple sites.
6. Look for capacity that can absorb a change
Aerospace schedules move. A supplier running a single facility at full load has nowhere to put a pull-in or a quantity increase. A partner with several U.S. machining sites can coordinate where work runs when schedules move, rather than requalifying a new vendor from scratch.
7. Ask how they communicate when something goes wrong
Every supplier eventually has a bad week. The difference is whether you hear about it from them or from your own receiving dock. Ask who your day-to-day contact will be, how early they flag a risk to the ship date and what a recovery plan from them looks like.
How Prince approaches aerospace machining
Prince has been machining precision parts since Ed Miller opened a one-man shop outside Chicago in 1959. Today Prince runs six U.S. manufacturing facilities in Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts and Vermont. Our U.S. machining facilities in Florida, Massachusetts and Vermont are AS9100 certified, with Carol Stream, Illinois on track by the end of November. Prince also holds ISO 9001:2015 certification, and ITAR-controlled work is performed only at Prince’s U.S. facilities.
Prince customers work with one team. The Prince engineering and sales group reviews each part and places it at the facility best equipped for its material, tolerances and volume, so buyers manage one relationship instead of several.
