With only a handful of aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as potential customers, aerospace suppliers have to hustle to make sure they’re selected. Stand out for the right reasons, and you could solidify 20 years worth of business. Make the wrong impression, and you could miss out on tens of millions (or more) in sales.

Taking a page from auto manufacturers, aerospace suppliers are increasingly adopting layered process audits (LPAs) as a way to build a competitive edge. LPAs help achieve many quality goals beyond cost and defect reduction, including one that can be hard to pin down: creating a culture of quality.

1. Reducing defects in aerospace manufacturing

LPAs are a type of process audit conducted daily to standardize processes and reduce variation. What makes them unique is the multiple layers of personnel (including management) conducting the audits. The layers create a high frequency of audits, a best practice when you’re targeting big changes in quality.

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