Keep drawing revision, material certificate and first article report with every machined part.

Aerospace parts are machined in small lots to tight tolerances, and each lot ships with paper that proves what it is made from and how it was checked. A missing certificate can hold up a finished batch. Every dimension may be good.

This software holds that paper beside the work. Drawing revision, heat number, program, first article report, process certificates and final inspection sit on one record per lot. The quality manager answers a query from a screen.

A customer sends a purchase order against a drawing at a stated revision, often with a flow-down of special requirements. The estimator prices material, machining hours and outside processes. On release, the planner raises a work order with a routing through roughing, finishing, deburr and inspection, and checks the program matches the current revision.

Plate or bar is issued from stores with its mill certificate and heat number, and the stores clerk notes which pieces came from which cast. At the machine, the first part goes to first article inspection on the coordinate measuring machine, and nothing else is cut until it passes.

Parts then go out for anodising, penetrant testing or heat treatment, and return with certificates that must match the lot. A part that misses a dimension is held. A nonconformance record is opened. Final inspection compiles the data pack. The packing list ships with the lot.