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Lockheed Martin Extends End-item Acceptance Status at AMS

Posted on by jbreynolds1120

Chesterland, OH — The Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company (LM Aero) has extended its “End Item Acceptance” oversight status of Aerospace Maintenance Solution (AMS) for a second year in a row. When LM Aero suppliers like AMS perform with a high level of quality and consistency, LM’s confidence in that supplier increases, so supplier oversight activities are modified. In AMS’s case, the oversight modification is continuing into a second year extending to 2016.

 

The End Item Acceptance Delegation Letter provided to AMS granted the repair depot the ability to “self-release” Lockheed Martin parts repaired and overhauled in the company’s Chesterland, Ohio facility.

 

Significantly contributing to the renewal of the “self-release” status is the fact that AMS has been consistently in compliance with AS9110:2009 requirements since August of 2013. AMS regularly operates with the appropriate processes and procedures defined by their aerospace Quality program and Lockheed Martin.

 

AMS maintenance, repair, and overhaul capabilities for Lockheed Martin aircraft components include actuators, instruments, valves, meters, fuel system components, motors, pistons, servomechanisms, power plants, environmental controls, indicators, amplifiers, radio, radar, hydraulics, and other mechanical components found in Lockheed transports (i.e., C-130) and fighters (i.e., F-16).

 

The End Item Acceptance status is a method whereby AMS and Lockheed Martin can jointly engage in preventive practices aimed at reducing both product risk and process disruption. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics representatives will still continue to perform surveys and process validation activities.

NATO Countries Go Direct to AMS

Posted on by jbreynolds1120

Chesterland, OH — Aerospace Maintenance Solutions, LLC (AMS) is an approved maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) vendor for aircraft OEMs like Lockheed Martin as well as militaries from many counties around the world that friendly to the US.

 

Within the past ten years, AMS has supported more than a dozen North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries that are either member countries, sponsor countries, or countries of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and Mediterranean region. The broad scope of NATO’s “area of responsibility” under Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty includes countries with territories on multiple continents.

 

AMS’s source-approved capabilities for these customers has included repair and overhaul of generator controls, gyroscopes, accelerometers, power supplies, voltage regulators, amplifiers, circuit cards, actuators, valves, displays, altimeters, indicators, transducers, control panels, weapons multiplex data bus components, avionics, and other components using MIL-STD-1553 and 1773.

 

NATO and other militaries around the globe speed their turn times by working directly with the source-approved repair depot and bypassing FMS programs. AMS is ITAR compliant and certified to AS9110:2012 Rev B standards.

 

The military alliance among NATO countries has existed since 1949. Members of the organization have agreed to mutual defense in response to external attacks. For example, after September 11 of 2001, NATO deployed troops to Afghanistan. The organization has operated a range of additional roles since then, including multiple roles in the Iraq War.  More recently, in 2014, NATO played a role in response to the Russian invasion of Crimea.

 

Members of militaries from NATO and other countries will gather in Ogden, UT to discuss common configuration/maintenance/and logistics issues. AMS will exhibit in booth 27, September 12 – 15 at the 2016 F-16 & Proven Aircraft Worldwide Review in Ogden, UT.

 

Visit https://aerospacemain.wpengine.com for complete AMS F-16 capabilities list.

AMS Publishes New Capabilities Brochure

Posted on by jbreynolds1120

Chesterland, OH — Aerospace Maintenance Solutions, LLC (AMS) has published the AMS Capabilities Brochure, which will be available free at booth B-109 at the 2017 Paris Air Show. The publication focuses on repair, overhaul, and sustainment of high-value components used on C-130, F-5, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, and UH-60 military aircraft.

 

The 24-page brochure shows many key areas within the AMS facilities, including a class 10,000 clean room that maintains positive pressurization with respect to the surrounding environment.

 

The designated areas within the facilities for repairs and overhauls of power generation, power control, hydraulic, pneumatic, electro-hydraulic, electro-pneumatic, electro-mechanical, flight controls, gyroscopes, accelerometers, radios, radar, countermeasures, and other components are shown on multiple pages with the test sets, equipment, and other resources that support AMS work on the components.

 

Many of the components AMS has serviced for military aircraft users around the world, including the U.S. Air Force, are shown in the publication. They include:

  • Countermeasures
  • Electrical and Electronics
  • Fire Controls
  • Flight Controls
  • Mechanical, Hydraulics, and Pneumatics
  • Gyros and Accelerometers
  • Instruments
  • Power Generation, Power Control, and Power Supplies
  • Radar
  • Radio

 

AMS uses an AS9110 design and development program to develop sustainment solutions to support these types of high-value aircraft components. Each component requires a unique combination of solutions for aircraft users. AMS provides these solutions to users on multiple levels, including cost efficiencies, regulatory compliance, technical solutions, design, diminishing sources for components, procurement, and maintenance, which are described in the brochure.

 

To receive a printed copy of the AMS Capabilities Brochure, contact bruce@aerospacellc.com.

DCMA Audit Validates AMS Quality Excellence

Posted on by jbreynolds1120

Chesterland, Ohio —  With more than 100 specific and probing questions about Quality systems and processes, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) audits of suppliers are extremely important to the safety and reliability of military aircraft. The audits help auditors enforce the high Quality standards expected from companies repairing the aircraft components used around the world by all branches of the U.S. military.
Over a period of several days, DCMA auditors recently  scrutinized every detail of Quality systems and processes at Aerospace Maintenance Solutions (AMS). The purpose of a audit was to verify the company’s compliance with Federal Acquisition Requirements (FAR) 52.246-11, as it relates to the Quality Management System. The verification confirms that when a unit has been repaired by AMS and returned to service, the aircraft end users can have confidence that the part has gone through the AS9110 Quality system that AMS currently uses.

Audits are conducted on-site, so auditors can see first-hand how the AMS Quality system functions. Audit questions applied to all areas of AMS, including the company’s engineering department, purchasing, control of records and documents, quality management system, customer relations, production, shipping, and other parts of the business. DCMA verifies, for example that AMS has “established, documented, implemented, maintained, and continually improved“ the Quality Management System. The DCMA verifies AMS has identified the appropriate processes and has implemented their application throughout the organization. DCMA also verifies AMS has sufficient information required to support the operation and the monitoring of processes supporting the Quality system.

Audit results from both the Lead Auditor and Senior Quality Assurance Representative from DCMA included no non-conformances when the Audit was completed. The audit occurs every 3-years and is requirement for AMS to work with the U.S. Air Force, other branches of the U.S. military, and some foreign militaries. The DCMA audit team consisted of a Lead Auditor and a Senior Quality Assurance Representative from Cleveland DCMA.

Ten Years of Military Aircraft Sustainment

Posted on by jbreynolds1120

Chesterland, OH – Aerospace Maintenance Solutions (AMS) originally started in 2005 with a handful of repair capabilities and a first contract from Lockheed Martin (LM). Today, AMS has grown to become a global company with more than 2,500 repair and overhaul capabilities supporting a dozen types of military aircraft domestically and internationally.

During the past ten years, AMS has continued to work with LM on both C-130 and F-16 aircraft platforms. LM has been near the top of AMS’s customer list for ten consecutive years and remains an AMS customer in 2015. Parts repaired and overhauled by AMS include a wide range of components, including radio, radar, cockpit instrumentation, gyroscopes, generator control units, circuit card assemblies, hydraulics, pneumatics, actuators and various control systems.

AMS is in compliance with AS9110, an advanced set of Quality practices developed by LM and other aerospace OEMs for the aerospace industry. Best practices like these have helped AMS expand its documented capabilities to provide maintenance solutions for F-5, F-16, and F-18 fighters; C-130 transports; UH-60 helicopters; and other strategically important aircraft platforms used today by the U.S. Department of Defense and its allies.

Domestically, AMS services have been provided to many aircraft end-users during the past ten years, including the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. DEA.

Internationally, AMS customers have included numerous branches of the militaries and police in Canada, Jordan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Columbia, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Israel, Thailand, and Indonesia.