Abaco Systems announced that its Austin Innovation Centre has successfully completed its AS9100 surveillance audit, granting them continued certification standing. Its Innovation Centre in Goleta, California did the same for its ISO 9001 certification. These follow successful completion of the AS9100 surveillance audit for the company's Huntsville, Alabama Innovation Centre in May. All were completed via remote audit connecting team members from several different locations at once.

AS9100 is a widely adopted and standardised quality management system for the aerospace industry. It was released in October, 1999, by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the European Association of Aerospace Industries. AS9100 replaces the earlier AS9000 and fully incorporates the entirety of the current version of ISO 9001, while adding requirements relating to quality and safety. Major aerospace manufacturers and suppliers worldwide require compliance and/or registration to AS9100 as a condition of doing business with them.

Many of Abaco's customers operate in the aerospace industry, both civilian and military.

"These are significant achievements for these three sites, and demonstrate Abaco's unwavering commitment to quality," said Ben Branham, Global Quality Director at Abaco Systems. "Our customers rely on us to work with established, robust, repeatable processes that guarantee we will deliver them products on which they can completely rely. This external accreditation is verification that we will meet and exceed our customers' expectations."

In addition to the conditions previously specified, AS9100 certification now requires suppliers to meet key requirements including product safety; prevention of counterfeit parts entering the supply chain; minimising risk in operational processes; awareness and the highest ethical standards on the part of individuals; and advanced configuration management capability.