Configuration identification means knowing, for every part you make, the released revision and every document, specification, program and plan that defines and makes it. In a build-to-print shop the customer owns the design; you own everything that turns their definition into product. The released set is the part's baseline.
What goes on a part's line
| Item | Why it is part of the configuration | Common gap |
|---|---|---|
| Drawing and model, with revision | The definition of the part; where the model is the authority, its revision matters as much as the drawing's | A model downloaded to a personal folder |
| Specifications called out, with revisions | Material, process and finish requirements that change on their own schedule | A specification revised with no drawing change |
| Router and traveler template | Carries the revision and the sequence onto the floor | Travelers printed before the change |
| CNC programs, with revisions and machines | They make the geometry | Old revision in control memory |
| CMM programs and inspection plan | They decide what is accepted | Printed characteristic lists |
| Setup sheets and work instructions | They tell the operator which program, tools and checks | Laminated copies on the machine |
| Key characteristics | Extra control, and changes often add or move them | Control plan not revised |
| FAI for the current revision | Proof the first production at this revision met every requirement | An older full FAI assumed to cover the new revision |
The Configuration Management Register (D10) keeps one line per part with all of these, each with its revision. Build it from your active part numbers first; parts not run in the last two years can wait until their next order, when contract review adds them.
Part numbers, revisions and interchangeability
When the customer holds the design, the customer decides whether a change gets a new part number or a new revision, based on whether old and new parts are interchangeable. Your job is to record what they decided and make sure the two never mix. Where you hold design authority for something (a fixture, a shipping container, a part you design for a customer), apply the same rule yourself: a change that affects form, fit or function, or makes old and new parts no longer interchangeable, gets a new part number; a change that does not gets a new revision. Design and development changes you own also need the review AS9100D 8.3.6 asks for.
A new part's first baseline
- Contract review accepts the order and records the drawing and specification revisions it calls.
- Engineering plans the part: router, programs, setup sheets, tooling; quality plans the inspection, the key characteristics and the FAI.
- Document control enters each new document and program on the document register (A13) with its points of use, and the part on the configuration register (D10) with every item and revision, FAI due.
- The first production lot is the effectivity point for the baseline. The FAI is run on it (AS9102), and the part's line changes from FAI due to Full FAI on file when it is accepted.
- Status accounting records the baseline as the part's first entry, so its history starts on day one.
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A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard, and your customers' requirements may add to it.
Clause numbers refer to AS9100D (SAE AS9100 Rev D) unless another document is named. The standards' text is not reproduced here: use your own licensed copy.
Aegis Insights are our own guidance, labeled wherever they appear: how we approach this work, not a requirement of any standard or customer.