The Aerospace Standard AS6500 was published in November 13, 2014. It is the first standard to cover manufacturing management. Development of this standard started back in 2011, with committee formed by DoD members such as US Air Force and industrial members such as Boeing and Raytheon (source).
The goal of creating this standard, is to promote “the timely development, production, modification, fielding, and sustainment of affordable products”.
To achieve this goal, AS6500 covers as thorough as possible all life cycle issues in manufacturing processes. However, each issue is only briefly discussed. The whole standard is 15-page long, while only 8 pages are in Requirement Section.
AS6500 sets up requirements in the following areas:
- Manufacturing Management System
- Design Analysis
- Design Analysis for Manufacturing
- Producibility Analysis
- Key Characteristics
- Process Failure Modes Effects Analysis (PFMEA)
- Feasibility, Risks, Readiness
- Manufacturing Risk Identification
- Manufacturing Feasibility Assessments
- Production Readiness Reviews (PRRs)
- Manufacturing Planning
- Supply Chain and Material Management
- Manufacturing Technology Development
- Manufacturing Modeling & Simulation
- Manufacturing System Verification
- Resources
- Cost
- Manufacturing Workforce
- Tooling/Test Equipment/Facilities
- Production Management
- Manufacturing Operation Management
- Production Scheduling and Control
- Manufacturing Surveillance
- Quality Management
- Continuous Improvement
- Process Control Plans
- Process Capabilities
- Production Process Verification (PPV)
- First Article Inspection (FAIs)/First Article Tests (FATs)
- Supplier Quality
- Supplier Management
If you don’t want to certify your corporation against AS6500, and $85 matters to you, I suggest you download MIL-HDBK-896, Department of Defence Handbook: Manufacturing and Quality Program. It is a free handbook, or guidance, offered by DoD. It covers majority topics discussed in AS6500, but omits lots of helpful citations.
Conclusion
AS6500 is more a general guideline, rather than a manual or a cookbook. It covers important issues in all manufacturing cycles, but one has to refer to other resources for implementation guides.