Quality
A quality system built to be audited.
What we hold, what we do not hold, how a part is controlled from incoming material to release, and what you will find when you audit us.
Certification status
Read the quality policy, issued under EN 9100 §5.2
Certified, in progress, not held
EN 9100:2018
Certified by AFNOR Certification under COFRAC accreditation n° 4-0001, operating under the IAQG ICOP scheme. Certificate 2022/100784.3, issued against AS9100D / JISQ 9100:2016 / EN 9100:2018 and audited to EN 9104-001:2013, valid 30 June 2025 to 29 June 2028. Certified scope, word for word: precision machining of mechanical parts and assembly of complex sets. One site: Bâtiment Industriel n° 4, Cité El Mzoughi, ZI Bir El Kassaâ, 2059 Ben Arous. Issued under ICOP means the certificate is registered in the IAQG OASIS database, where any customer can verify it.
ISO 9001:2015
Certified by the same body, on the same site, in the same audit cycle. Certificate 2022/100817.3, issued by AFNOR Certification under COFRAC accreditation n° 4-0001 for management system certification, valid 30 June 2025 to 29 June 2028. Its scope is one word wider than the EN 9100 scope: design and precision machining of mechanical parts and assembly of complex sets, at Bâtiment Industriel n° 4, Cité El Mzoughi, ZI Bir El Kassaâ, 2059 Ben Arous.
Special process qualification
A qualification programme for special processes is in progress. Until it is complete, special processes are performed by qualified external partners under our supplier control procedure.
ISO 14001 · ISO 45001
Environmental and occupational health and safety management systems are being deployed. Neither is certified today, and we do not present them as acquired.
Nadcap
ESM does not hold Nadcap accreditation. Where a Nadcap-accredited process is required, it is placed with an accredited partner and stated openly at the quotation stage.
EASA Part 21 · Part 145
ESM is a build-to-print manufacturer, not a design organisation and not a maintenance organisation. We hold neither approval and do not work in their scope.
Product liability insurance
Aerospace product liability cover is subscribed. Policy details and limits are provided with the supplier qualification package.
We publish what we do not hold for the same reason we publish what we do: a supplier quality engineer should find no surprise between this page and the audit.
Control flow
How a part is controlled
Process architecture
A mapped, owned, measured system
The quality system is built on a documented process map. Each process has a named owner, defined inputs and outputs, measured objectives and a review cadence. Performance is reviewed monthly by the management committee and formally at the annual management review.
The Quality Manager reports with the independence and authority required by EN 9100 §5.3 and has the authority to stop a delivery.
| Code | Process | Type |
|---|---|---|
| M01 | Define and deploy the strategy | Management |
| M02 | QHSE monitoring and continuous improvement | Management |
| R01 | Supply chain, purchasing and supplier development | Realisation |
| R02 | Project and development — industrialisation | Realisation |
| R03 | Production | Realisation |
| S01 | Purchasing and requirements planning | Support |
| S02 | Human resources and competence | Support |
| S03 | Maintenance of production means and infrastructure | Support |
Methods in place
What a supplier quality engineer will find
FAI is performed on every new part number and on reintroduction after a qualifying change. The FAI file is built during industrialisation, not reconstructed after the fact, and critical fixtures are themselves validated by FAI before production release. First-time-right FAI is a tracked objective of the R02 process.
A documented non-conformity procedure governs identification, segregation, disposition and recording. Corrective actions are driven by 8D with formal root cause analysis. Concessions and deviations are managed through a dedicated procedure and recorded in the ERP — a concession is never granted verbally.
Quick Response Quality Control is run daily at shop-floor level and at service level, backed by SQCDP boards. Problems are escalated on a defined timescale rather than accumulating. PDCA and process FMEA support structured improvement.
Four audit types are planned and executed each year: system audits, process audits, GEMBA safety and ergonomics walks, and product audits. Compliance with the audit plan reached 100 % over the first half of 2026. Findings are tracked to closure with named owners and due dates.
Every measuring instrument is registered with its range, maximum permissible error, calibration interval and certificate reference. Calibration is performed by external providers. Compliance with the calibration plan reached 100 % over the first half of 2026, with all registered equipment in conformity. The register is reviewed twice a month.
A FOD programme aligned with AS 9146 covers the machining floor, the fitting area, the control laboratory and packing, with defined housekeeping standards, tool control and inspection points before packing.
Suppliers and special-process partners are selected against documented criteria, evaluated periodically and audited on a published plan. Parts returning from an external process are re-inspected before they re-enter the flow. Flow-down of customer requirements to partners is contractual, not informal.
Operators work under individual authorisation records — notably for aerospace fitting and for inspection — supported by a training plan, a versatility matrix and formal post-training effectiveness evaluation. An authorisation is a document, not a habit.
Documents are controlled by reference and index under a documented-information procedure, with an electronic document management deployment under way. Configuration and change management are handled as defined processes, with the customer definition as the single point of truth.
New part introduction
APQP deliverables, built during industrialisation
Airbus and most European primes now ask their suppliers to run new part introduction as an APQP / PPAP process per AS9145. ESM's NPI process was built around the same deliverables. The table maps them to what a customer receives, and states plainly where the formal AS9145 vocabulary is not yet applied.
| APQP element | How it is covered at ESM | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Process flow diagram | Operation sequence defined at industrialisation: machine allocation, datum strategy, stock allowance and the split between machining, fitting and external processes. | In place |
| Process FMEA | Process FMEA is one of the methods in place and supports industrialisation and structured improvement. Its systematic issue for every new part number, as AS9145 expects, is being formalised. | Being formalised |
| Control plan | Issued at transfer to series; operator self-inspection and scheduled checks are performed against it, and the FAI validates it on the first article. | In place |
| Key characteristics (AS9103) | Identified at the technical review of the definition. Variation management and capability data are provided on request for the characteristics the customer designates. | On request |
| Measurement system analysis | Every instrument is registered with its range, maximum permissible error and calibration interval; gauge capability studies are run on customer request. | On request |
| First Article Inspection (AS9102) | Performed on every new part number and on reintroduction after a qualifying change. The FAI file is built during industrialisation, not reconstructed afterwards. | In place |
| PPAP package | The elements above are assembled into a PPAP package when the customer's procedure requires it, at the submission level agreed at the technical review. | On request |
| Production readiness | Cycle and setup times are measured at transfer to series and loaded into the ERP capacity model; a run-at-rate demonstration is organised when the customer requires it. | On request |
Send us your APQP procedure or your PPAP checklist with the RFQ: the deliverables and their timing are agreed at the technical review, before the price is issued.
Performance
Indicators we publish — and those we do not
ESM measures on-time delivery, customer PPM, cost of non-quality, first-time-right FAI, OEE and audit plan compliance. These are reviewed monthly and steered against objectives.
We publish only the indicators that are stable, current and meaningful out of context. Delivery and quality performance figures are shared directly with customers and prospective customers, with their reference period and their scope, during the supplier qualification process — where they can be read against a real perimeter rather than used as decoration.
Aero Excellence
Where we stand on the European supplier standard
Aero Excellence is the assessment GIFAS, BDLI and ADS built to replace each prime's own supplier audit with one standard one. It covers operational excellence, environment and cyber security across five domains, and rates suppliers bronze, silver or gold.
ESM is engaged in that process. Our declared first milestone is bronze, and improvement objectives are reset every year in management review against the domains scored lowest — whatever level we hold at the time.
ESM is not currently labelled. Bronze is a declared objective and an active work programme, not an acquired result. No level will appear on this site, in a capability statement or in a tender response before an assessment has been completed and the result documented. The assessment is targeted for February 2027.
Standards on the horizon
IA9100, the next revision of EN 9100
The IAQG is replacing the regional designations AS 9100, EN 9100 and JISQ 9100 with a single international standard, IA9100, expected in late 2026 after ISO 9001:2026, with a transition window of two to three years.
The revision extends what EN 9100:2018 already requires on product safety, counterfeit parts prevention, sub-tier supplier control and ethical behaviour, and adds explicit expectations on information security, quality culture, human factors in non-conformity investigations and APQP.
ESM will run its gap assessment against the published text and plan the transition inside the IAQG window. The information security, compliance and quality pages of this site are where the corresponding evidence will be published as it is established.
Supplier quality
Preparing an audit or a qualification package?
Tell us what your supplier quality process needs — certificates, procedure list, process map, control plan samples, audit slot — and we will prepare it before your visit.
