TE Wire & Cable Thermocouple Solutions Blog

  

NADCAP Audit of Composite Autoclave Manufacturing made Easy (Yeah, right!)

Posted by Pat Durkin

Aug 21, 2014 9:54:13 AM

 

Got your attention, didn’t I? True, while NADCAP audits are never really easy, I think we’d all agree that each item that can be taken off the checklist and made foolproof is one less pain point adding to your audit headache.

 

Whether you are installing new composite autoclaves or re-locating one in order to expand your capabilities, there are all kinds of issues to be dreaded including re-qualification.  Doing it for five claves can be a geometric multiplication of issues. 

 

NADCAP wants to audit the clave. 

The Primes want to audit the clave. 

The Military shows up and, guess what? They want to audit the clave.

 

I’d like to share one of many examples of how you can make your NADCAP audits easier.

 

A long term customer using our AccuClave product family, including AccuClave-X, AccuFlex and AccuConnect, recently moved their operations about 20 miles to a new green field location. They installed five autoclaves into this composites manufacturing plant producing parts for military, commercial, and business aircraft.

 

AccuClave Product Family 

All autoclave thermocouple assemblies and autoclave extension cables provide online TRAC traceability

 

New autoclaves had to pass audits by customers and governing bodies such as NADCAP as well as meet the standards of AMS 2750E.

 

Our customer reported that every auditor asked to see the temperature accuracy certification of the autoclave thermocouples that were used in the autoclave qualification processes.  In years past, they would have to go to central filing to retrieve the calibration paperwork that came with the thermocouple shipment. Most times, that paperwork was missing, and a long laborious search had to be made to satisfy the auditor.

 

After switching to TE Wire & Cable’s patented AccuClave products all this has changed. Why? Because the thermcouple assemblies incorporate the unique TRAC traceability solution, which makes this the easiest audit question to answer.

 

Every individual thermocouple assembly is made from calibrated and tested thermocouple wire. And every assembly is 100% tested in final production at which time a computer laser etches the connector with a unique TRAC identifier.

 

Instead of going to the hardcopy archives or “the cloud” to retrieve the data, they only had to walk to the nearest computer and with a few keystrokes had the data they needed to prove compliance. The TE Wire TRAC on line traceability instantly brings up the data you need to comply with the audit requirements and the auditor swiftly moves to the next audit line.

 

And if the auditor needs a hard copy, just hit a key and a paper copy can be printed right from the on-line TRAC screen.

 

When you couple the TRAC online traceability with the other benefits of the AccuClave products such as vacuum leak reduction under the bag and cure cycle time improvements, you will understand why TE Wire & Cable’s products are Engineered to Perform.

 

You can see a brief demo here.

 

We’d be glad to introduce you to how AccuClave can make your NADCAP audits easier. Read the autoclave thermocouple assemblies savings whitepaper and learn how easy it is to reduce your audit headaches.

 

 Autoclave Composites savings with AccuClave Whitepaper

 

Are you planning on attending CAMX in Orlando, FL on October 14-16?
Be sure to visit us at booth #3190.

 

 

Topics: Thermocouple Traceability, Aerospace Composites, Autoclave Thermocouples, NADCAP, AMS2750E