New Realities for Quality Systems: How Manufacturing and Fabrication Operations Will Change – Our Forecast

Over recent years, defence spending in NATO, EU, and US countries has sharply increased. This has led to civilian enterprises – primarily foundries, forging operations, and machine shops – becoming actively involved in military equipment production. These facilities now manufacture mortar shell casings, armour and hull castings, tracked vehicle components, drive and transmission parts, and investment castings for small arms. All of this represents products subject to entirely different quality requirements than those familiar in civilian sector orders. While an ISO 9001 certificate was recently the primary document for a factory, this is no longer sufficient: defense-level standards are taking over, primarily AQAP 2110.

The Fundamental Shift from Civilian to Defense Quality Standards

The difference between civilian and military approaches to quality management becomes evident when examining the key provisions of these standards. ISO 9001 was created as a universal tool for all industries. It describes general rules: how to organize a system, how to maintain documentation, how to handle non-conformities. But for the defense sector, such universality is insufficient. There, not only the presence of a system is required, but its actual operation under constant customer oversight. This is where AQAP 2110 comes into force.

One of the most telling differences is the Quality Plan. In ISO, it remains a supporting tool: an enterprise may develop one or limit itself to general procedures. In AQAP 2110, the Quality Plan becomes a mandatory document. Moreover, it is developed for each contract, approved by the customer, and becomes a roadmap for the entire project. Until the plan is agreed upon, production cannot begin. This simple difference clearly demonstrates how much higher the level of transparency and responsibility is in defense contracts.

Customer Presence and Critical Characteristics Control

But the Quality Plan is only part of the picture. AQAP requires mandatory participation of the customer’s representative in the production process. While previously an inspector from an external organization visited the factory once a year for certification audit, now the customer’s representative has the right to be present on-site constantly, participate in testing, review documentation, and even inspect subcontractors. Thus, the enterprise works literally “under the customer’s eyes,” creating an entirely different atmosphere – one of openness, but simultaneously high responsibility.

Equally important innovation is the concept of critical characteristics. ISO 9001 doesn’t address them directly, while in AQAP they are a key element. Any characteristic on which product safety or reliability depends must be identified and placed under special control. For foundry and forging operations, this means that mortar shell casing strength, track pad wear resistance, or transmission part reliability must be controlled more strictly than other parameters. Here we’re talking not simply about internal control, but about creating a system that records every measurement and gives the customer a complete picture of what’s happening.

Cultural Transformation in Quality Management

All these requirements gradually change the quality philosophy at the enterprises themselves. While quality control was previously associated primarily with the quality control department, it now becomes part of everyone’s work: from the designer who builds reliability into the project, to the technologist who documents melting or forging parameters, to the production worker who understands that their operation will be checked and recorded. Management also has to play a more active role: approving plans, participating in risk analysis, preparing for customer inspections. The result is a new culture – a culture of openness where non-conformities cannot be swept under the rug; they must be documented and discussed.

Long-term Industry Evolution

We can expect these changes will not disappear with the end of the defense boom. Industrial history shows that what is first implemented for military purposes gradually becomes the norm in civilian sectors as well. This happened with quality systems in automotive and aviation industries, and it’s happening now. Even after order decline, enterprises will continue maintaining AQAP certification to avoid losing the opportunity to participate in tenders. Civilian customers will begin demanding the same level of transparency to which their defense partners have become accustomed. The factories themselves will see benefits: reduced defects, fewer reworks, more stable processes.

The Digital Evolution: Industry 5.0 Integration

The next step in this evolution relates to digitalization. Systems are already being implemented that allow test results to be recorded electronically and automatically transmitted to customers. In the future, they will become even smarter: data will flow directly from sensors and equipment, be analyzed by artificial intelligence algorithms, and results displayed in convenient interfaces. Moreover, this involves not just recording defect occurrence. Modern machine learning algorithms can predict the probability of defect appearance and explain causes.

For example, a system can warn a technologist that with a certain combination of temperature regime and metal chemical composition, the risk of crack formation increases. If a defect still manifests, artificial intelligence helps identify patterns and suggest corrective measures. For engineers and quality specialists, this means faster and more accurate diagnostics, and for customers – a new level of trust when they see not only control results but also how the enterprise manages problems.

All of this completely aligns with Industry 5.0 philosophy, which focuses on human and digital technology collaboration. Here, artificial intelligence doesn’t replace engineers but assists them: analyzing data, pointing out weak spots, predicting possible risks, and suggesting solutions. For engineers, this is an efficiency enhancement tool; for customers – a transparency guarantee; for enterprises – a way to reduce costs and increase sustainability.

The Future Landscape of Quality Management

Thus, we see a familiar industrial history pattern: best practices from the defense sector gradually establish themselves in civilian sectors as well. New quality standards, digital tools, and a culture of transparency and responsibility become not the exception but the norm. For quality philosophy, this means transitioning to a new level where key words become trust, predictability, and collaborative work.

At GussMaker, we view this as a direction for our own research and development. Our task is to participate in creating next-generation quality systems that unite engineers and digital technologies, help predict defects, explain their causes, and manage quality in real-time. Precisely here, at the intersection of defense standards and Industry 5.0, the future of industry is forming, and this is where we believe the emphasis will shift in the coming years.

This transformation represents more than regulatory compliance – it’s the evolution of manufacturing toward unprecedented levels of transparency, predictability, and collaborative excellence that will define competitive advantage in tomorrow’s industrial landscape.