Consulting for metalworking and mechanical engineering firms that want to bring spare manufacturing capacity into the defence supply chain — without investing five figures in certification first.
NCAGE code, supplier portals, capability profile. Without any certification.
Parts nobody demands a standard for. Reference and contribution margin.
EN 9100 once a specific customer asks for it — paid for out of running revenue.
Sequence decides, not the certificate.
The usual route is EN 9100 first, customers afterwards. That ties up a five-figure sum and nine months before anyone knows whether a customer requires that standard at all.
Entry works the other way round. Spare parts for legacy equipment, hydraulic components, test rig hardware — what counts there is whether you can manufacture to drawing, not which certificate hangs on the wall. Reference and contribution margin come from that, and only then is formal qualification financed.
European defence spending is rising on a planning horizon of years, not quarters. The bottleneck is not machines or factory space but available, qualified manufacturing capacity in the second and third tier.
This page is an independent commercial offering and has no connection to the European Union, NATO or their programmes.
You decide again after every stage. No annual contract, no commitment beyond what is currently due.
Two days in your production. Recording every process with limit dimensions, achievable tolerances and free capacity. An assessment of which of them are actually scarce in the market and which lead straight into a price war. A comparison of your quality management against ISO 9001 and EN 9100.
Applying for the NCAGE code, setting up master data, registering on the relevant supplier portals and tendering platforms. A prioritised target customer list sorted by reachability, not by order volume. A one-page capability profile for buyers.
Focus on part categories without certification requirements. Costing for manufacture to drawing and small batches, support for the first quotations and first article inspections.
End-to-end traceability including the material certificate chain. A documented and lived first article inspection process. Configuration and evidence management. Sub-suppliers systematically brought in.
EN 9100 once a specific customer requires it. AQAP capability demonstrated per project. Export control once foreign prime contractors become customers. Second and third customers against concentration risk, and contract terms for long payment periods.
The difference decides whether you have to invest at all — and it is surprisingly often presented incorrectly.
The basis. Sufficient for many re-manufacturing and spare parts orders, particularly with maintenance and repair organisations.
The established quality management standard for aerospace and defence. Adds configuration management, traceability and risk control on top of ISO 9001.
A contractual requirement that the customer sets in the tender or contract — AQAP 2110 for development and production, AQAP 2131 for final inspection and acceptance. You are not “AQAP certified” and then wait for orders: the requirement arises with the order, and what you build is the capability behind it.
A capability review that ends in a no is a good outcome. It saves you the year.
The capability review is a finished product. What follows is your decision, based on its result.
On request, a success component on the contribution margin of the first 24 months in the new segment instead of the monthly fee.
Twenty minutes are usually enough to judge whether your machinery suits this segment. It costs nothing and often ends in a clear no — which is fine.