🔥 NADCAP

NADCAP and Swiss Machining: Why the Accreditation Lives in the Special Processes, Not the Turning

Here is the honest truth most directories will not tell you: NADCAP does not accredit Swiss machining. There is no NADCAP checklist for sliding-headstock turning, and a shop cannot get 'NADCAP for Swiss.' What NADCAP accredits are the special processes a turned aerospace part passes through, heat treat, passivation, plating, anodize, and nondestructive testing, so the real sourcing question is which of those your part needs and whether they run through accredited operations.

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NADCAP (the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program), run by the Performance Review Institute under PRI, accredits special processes against industry-consensus audit criteria called Audit Criteria documents, tied to specific commodities: Heat Treating (AC7102), Chemical Processing including passivation and anodize (AC7108), Nonconventional Machining and Surface Enhancement, Coatings, Welding, Nondestructive Testing (AC7114), and others. There is a Conventional Machining commodity, but the major primes generally do not mandate NADCAP for ordinary CNC turning and milling the way they mandate it for heat treat or NDT, because dimensional machining is well controlled by AS9100 and first-article inspection. So when a buyer says they want a 'NADCAP Swiss shop,' what they almost always need is a Swiss shop whose routed special processes are NADCAP accredited, whether performed in-house on a rare integrated line or, far more commonly, at a NADCAP-accredited subcontractor. The turning is governed by AS9100 and the print; the passivation, the heat treat, the magnetic-particle inspection, those are where NADCAP lives.

Mapping Your Swiss Part's Routing to NADCAP Commodities

The practical exercise is to walk the routing of your turned part and flag every operation that touches a NADCAP commodity. A 17-4 PH stainless pin might be turned on a Tornos, then sent for solution and aging heat treat (NADCAP Heat Treating, AC7102), then passivated per AMS 2700 (NADCAP Chemical Processing), then possibly liquid-penetrant inspected (NADCAP NDT, AC7114-1). A titanium fitting might add anodize per AMS 2488. Each of those steps, if the prime's flow-down requires it, must be done at a NADCAP-accredited source with the certifications traced back into the part's documentation package. This is why NADCAP is best understood as a supply-chain attribute rather than a single shop credential for Swiss work. The Swiss shop's value is partly in maintaining a qualified, NADCAP-accredited special-process supply base and managing the flow-down so the buyer receives a clean, compliant package. When you source, ask the shop to identify which routed operations are NADCAP-scope and name the accredited supplier or in-house accreditation that covers each.

The Records and the eAuditNet Verification Path

NADCAP accreditation is uniquely verifiable. The Performance Review Institute publishes accredited suppliers and their scopes in eAuditNet, the database underpinning the program. For any process house in your routing, you can confirm in eAuditNet that the supplier holds current accreditation for the exact commodity and process, for example that the heat-treat house is accredited for AC7102 vacuum heat treat, not merely 'heat treating' in general. Accreditations are time-limited and renewed on a recurring audit cycle, so confirm the accreditation has not expired or been suspended. With the parts you should receive the special-process certifications that tie each operation to its accredited source and the governing spec: the heat-treat cert citing the AMS or customer spec and lot, the passivation cert citing AMS 2700 and the method/type, NDT reports with the inspector's certification level (per NAS 410), and so on. Because NADCAP audits are notoriously detailed, often surfacing dozens of findings against the audit criteria, an active accreditation is strong evidence the process is genuinely controlled, which is exactly why primes lean on it instead of auditing every process house themselves.

Frequently Asked Questions

A shop can hold NADCAP accreditation, but for the special processes it performs in-house, not for the act of Swiss turning. NADCAP organizes accreditation by commodity: Heat Treating, Chemical Processing, Coatings, Welding, Nondestructive Testing, and so on. If a Swiss shop runs an in-house passivation line or NDT station and a customer flows down a NADCAP requirement for that process, the shop must get that specific operation accredited against the relevant Audit Criteria document. The turning operation itself is generally governed by AS9100 and first-article inspection rather than NADCAP, since there is a Conventional Machining commodity but primes rarely mandate it for routine CNC turning. Most Swiss shops do not perform special processes in-house at all; they subcontract heat treat, plating, and NDT to dedicated NADCAP-accredited houses and flow the certs back. So 'NADCAP Swiss shop' usually means a Swiss shop with a NADCAP-accredited special-process supply chain, not a shop holding NADCAP for the machining. Ask specifically which operations are in-house and accredited versus subcontracted.
Read the drawing and the prime's flow-down requirements, then walk the part's routing operation by operation. Any callout for heat treatment, solution treat and age, hardening, stress relief, points to NADCAP Heat Treating (AC7102). Passivation per AMS 2700, anodize per AMS 2470/2488, chem film, or chemical etch points to NADCAP Chemical Processing (AC7108). Plating points to Chemical Processing or Coatings. A requirement for fluorescent penetrant, magnetic particle, or other inspection points to NADCAP NDT (AC7114). Surface enhancement like shot peen has its own commodity. The drawing itself often names the controlling AMS or customer spec, and the prime's purchase order or quality clauses will state where NADCAP is mandatory. Bare dimensional turning with no special process and no coating typically needs no NADCAP at all, only AS9100. The most reliable approach is to ask the prime or your customer's quality engineer to confirm the NADCAP flow-down for that part number, since requirements vary by program and primes maintain approved-supplier lists for each commodity.
Use eAuditNet, the Performance Review Institute database that backs the NADCAP program. You can look up a supplier and confirm it holds current accreditation for the precise commodity and process scope your part needs, not just 'NADCAP accredited' in the abstract. The distinction matters: a heat-treat house might be accredited for atmosphere furnace work but not vacuum heat treat, or a chem-processing house accredited for passivation but not anodize. Confirm the accreditation covers the exact process and that it has not expired or been placed on probation or suspension, both of which eAuditNet reflects. Then require the actual special-process certifications with the parts, each citing the governing AMS or customer specification, the lot, and for NDT the inspector's NAS 410 certification level. If the Swiss shop subcontracts the process, ask them to provide the accredited supplier's name so you can verify it yourself. Because NADCAP audits are merit-based and rigorous, with reduced re-audit intervals earned by clean performance, current accreditation is meaningful evidence of process control rather than a paperwork formality.
No, they are complementary and address different things. AS9100 Rev D is the quality management system standard that governs the Swiss shop's overall operation: order review, configuration and revision control, first-article inspection per AS9102, counterfeit-part prevention, key-characteristic control, and corrective action. It covers how the part is made and verified dimensionally. NADCAP accredits specific special processes against detailed technical audit criteria: whether the heat-treat furnace is calibrated and surveyed, whether the passivation tank chemistry and process meet AMS 2700, whether the NDT technique and personnel are qualified. A turned aerospace part typically needs AS9100 covering the machining and any in-house operations, plus NADCAP covering each routed special process, plus possibly ITAR if the part is on the USML. You cannot use NADCAP to skip AS9100, because NADCAP says nothing about whether the diameter is in tolerance, and you cannot use AS9100 to skip NADCAP on a flagged special process, because AS9100 does not perform the deep technical audit of the heat-treat or plating operation. Primes require both precisely because each closes a gap the other leaves open.

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Last updated: July 2026

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