Are Counterfeit Parts Slipping Through Your Quality Control Process?
When air accidents happen, aircraft inspectors oftentimes find flaws in part designs. The first article inspection process is intended to identify design and structural flaws. Worryingly, more parts are found to not comply with the original designs and even be counterfeit.
Could 3D visualization expose false parts before airplane malfunctions and accidents? The solution to more thorough and rapid parts inspection could be shifting more complex 3D analysis from the full plate of quality control managers to dimensional inspection labs.
Counterfeit Parts
No evidence shows that airline makers knowingly buy counterfeit airplane parts. But with the increase in the outsourcing of aviation parts, aviation analysts are reporting more counterfeit parts being used in airplanes. Could these parts get passed your quality control team? To counter badly made and counterfeit parts, aircraft makers need to add more checks and higher standards to their quality control systems.
Uncovered By 3D Visualization
3D visualization can provide more detail into a part's structural design and material composition. If a supplier switches up a surface finish for a cheaper material, you could spot material changes through 3D viewing that 2D data fails to reveal.
3D visualization has had a slow adoption in both first article inspections and routine parts quality control. Common complaints from the aerospace industry are:
- a lack 3D and other dimensional inspection lab tools
- a cumbersome and time-consuming 3D reviewing process
- a lack of standards across 3D viewing software
- a patchwork of different 3D software solutions creating incompatibility problems.
Standardization of 3D Parts Modeling
The standardization of 3D visualization software in first part and other quality control inspections could improve parts inspection and reveal more design and structural flaws. With a lack of standards, many suppliers use a mix of 2D and 3D data representation when providing initial designs to aerospace clients. The temptation is, with complex and inconsistent methods of supplying data to meet design and specification inspection requirements, aerospace quality control managers may cut corners along the quality control process. However, 3D inspections may lessen that temptation.
The solution is a first article inspection lab. Currently, quality control managers are left to juggle the many different supplier formats submitted for first parts inspections. A center of excellence in first parts inspection can set the standards for suppliers. Once standardized, 3D visualization can be used in all stages of the quality control process, making it harder for shoddily made and counterfeit parts to infiltrate your supply chain.
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