🔥 NADCAP
NADCAP-Accredited Special Processes for Sheet Metal
Here is the honest nuance most directories gloss over: NADCAP does not accredit sheet metal fabrication as a whole, it accredits the special processes that ride along with it. The brake forming and laser cutting are controlled by your AS9100 fabricator, but the welding, the chem film, the anodize, and the penetrant inspection are exactly where NADCAP earns its reputation as the strictest accreditation in aerospace.
NADCAPAS9100ISO 9001
What NADCAP accredits and why it follows the process, not the shop
NADCAP (the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program), run by the Performance Review Institute under the SAE, is an industry-managed program in which aerospace primes pooled their special-process audits into one rigorous, consensus-driven accreditation. The point is that primes stopped each auditing the same plating line a dozen times and agreed to a single, harder audit administered to consensus criteria.
Crucially, NADCAP accreditation is granted by individual special-process commodity, not to a facility as a whole. A shop is not 'NADCAP certified' in the abstract; it holds accreditation for specific processes such as Welding (AC7110 series), Chemical Processing (AC7108, covering anodize, chem film, passivation, etch), Coatings (AC7109), Heat Treating (AC7102), and Nondestructive Testing (AC7114, covering penetrant, magnetic particle, and radiographic methods). Each accreditation is tied to a defined scope of methods, specifications, and sometimes specific part families.
In sheet metal this distinction is everything. The cutting and forming are not NADCAP-scoped operations. What gets NADCAP scrutiny are the operations applied to the formed part: welding aluminum or stainless assemblies to AWS or AMS specs, anodizing per MIL-A-8625, applying chemical conversion coating per MIL-DTL-5541, and inspecting welds or critical areas by NDT. A fabricator may hold some of these in-house and outsource the rest to accredited processors.
Why the NADCAP audit is harder than ISO or AS9100
An ISO 9001 or AS9100 audit assesses a quality system. A NADCAP audit assesses a process against a detailed technical checklist written by the primes themselves, line by line, often hundreds of compliance points per commodity. Auditors are industry technical experts in that exact process, so a Chemical Processing audit is conducted by someone who knows anodize tanks, not a generalist reading a binder.
The scoring is unforgiving. Findings must be closed with documented root cause and corrective action before accreditation is granted, and the Performance Review Institute's task groups, staffed by the customer primes, review the audit results. Initial accreditation is typically short and the surveillance interval lengthens only as a supplier demonstrates sustained performance, so a shop with a poor record stays on a tighter audit leash. This is a deliberately steeper bar than the periodic surveillance of a quality-system standard.
For a buyer, that rigor is the value. When a weld or a coating is a flight-critical operation whose quality cannot be fully verified after the fact, NADCAP accreditation is the prime industry's agreed-upon evidence that the process is under control. It is why many aerospace primes contractually require NADCAP for the relevant special processes regardless of whether the supplier also holds AS9100.
Verifying accreditation in eAuditNet, scope and all
NADCAP accreditations are tracked in eAuditNet, the Performance Review Institute's online system, which includes a public Qualified Manufacturers List (QML). This is the authoritative place to confirm a supplier's status. Unlike a wall certificate, eAuditNet shows the exact commodities a supplier is accredited for, the audit currency, and the scope.
The most important verification step is matching the scope to your actual process. A supplier may be NADCAP accredited for Chemical Processing but only for anodize, not for the chem film your drawing calls out, or accredited for Welding but only for specific alloys or joint types. Reading 'NADCAP accredited' on a capability sheet without checking which commodity and which methods is how scope mismatches slip through. Confirm the specification on your drawing (the AMS, MIL, or customer spec) appears within the supplier's accredited scope.
Red flags: a shop claiming blanket 'NADCAP certification' rather than naming specific commodities, an accreditation that has lapsed or shows an overdue audit in eAuditNet, or a fabricator that outsources a special process and cannot tell you which accredited processor performs it. Because accreditation follows the process, the question is never just 'are you NADCAP' but 'are you NADCAP accredited for this exact process to this exact spec.'
Frequently Asked Questions
Not in the way that phrase suggests. NADCAP does not accredit sheet metal fabrication, cutting, or forming as a whole; it accredits specific special processes by commodity. So a fabricator is never simply 'NADCAP certified.' What a shop can legitimately hold is NADCAP accreditation for the special processes it performs on formed parts, such as Welding (AC7110 series), Chemical Processing (AC7108, covering anodize, chem film, passivation), Coatings (AC7109), Heat Treating (AC7102), or Nondestructive Testing (AC7114). The brake forming and laser cutting that define sheet metal work fall under the shop's AS9100 or ISO 9001 quality system, not NADCAP. When a supplier markets itself as NADCAP accredited, ask which commodities and which specifications, then verify it in eAuditNet. Many fabricators hold one or two special-process accreditations in-house, like welding, and outsource the rest, such as anodize or NDT, to accredited processors. That is normal and acceptable as long as every NADCAP-required operation on your part is performed by a supplier accredited for that exact process and spec. The phrase 'NADCAP certified shop' with no commodity attached should prompt a follow-up question every time.
NADCAP is generally required when an aerospace or defense prime's flow-down mandates it for a specific special process on your part, which happens when that process is flight-critical and its quality cannot be fully verified by later inspection. Typical triggers on sheet metal assemblies include structural welding of aluminum or stainless to AMS or AWS D17.1, anodize per MIL-A-8625, chemical conversion coating per MIL-DTL-5541, heat treatment of formed parts, and nondestructive testing of welds or critical areas. If your drawing invokes one of these specs and the part feeds an aerospace prime, the special process almost certainly needs a NADCAP-accredited source. Commercial and industrial sheet metal rarely needs NADCAP; a strong ISO 9001 shop with capable in-house finishing is appropriate there, and requiring NADCAP would add cost and lead time with no benefit. The decisive document is your own customer's purchasing requirement: aerospace primes spell out which processes require NADCAP. Read that flow-down before sourcing, because NADCAP applies process by process, not part by part, so you may need it for the welding on a part while the coating is handled under the fabricator's normal quality system.
Use eAuditNet, the Performance Review Institute's online system, which hosts the public Qualified Manufacturers List. It is the authoritative source and shows far more than a wall certificate: the exact commodities a supplier is accredited for, the audit currency, and the accredited scope. The verification that matters most is scope matching. A supplier accredited for Chemical Processing may cover anodize but not the chem film your print calls out; a Welding accreditation may be limited to certain alloys or joint configurations. Confirm that the specific specification on your drawing, the AMS, MIL-spec, or customer spec, falls within the supplier's accredited scope, not just that they hold the commodity. Then check audit currency, since NADCAP keeps weaker performers on tighter audit intervals and an overdue audit will show in the system. Warning signs include a supplier claiming blanket NADCAP status without naming commodities, a lapsed accreditation, or a fabricator that outsources a NADCAP process but cannot identify the accredited processor that performs it. Because accreditation follows the process, always frame the question as whether they are accredited for this exact process to this exact spec, then confirm it yourself in eAuditNet rather than trusting a capability sheet.
NADCAP-accredited special processes carry a premium because the accreditation itself is expensive to earn and maintain, and that cost flows into the processor's rate. The audits are conducted by industry technical experts against checklists with hundreds of compliance points per commodity, findings must be closed with documented root cause before accreditation is granted, and the prime-staffed task groups review results, so accredited processors carry real overhead for compliance staff, recordkeeping, and recurring audits. On lead time, the larger factor is usually the supply-chain routing. When your fabricator outsources welding, anodize, or NDT to an accredited processor, you add that processor's queue and turnaround, commonly one to three weeks per outside operation, plus shipping between facilities and incoming inspection on return. A part needing forming, then NADCAP welding at one source, then NADCAP anodize at another, then NDT, can stack several outside operations in series. The documentation requirement also adds time, since each accredited process must produce certs traceable to the spec. Plan the routing into your schedule and quote, and where possible favor fabricators that hold the relevant accreditations in-house to collapse the number of outside transfers.
Last updated: July 2026
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