A quality system that runs on one person doesn't survive that person leaving
Most QMS failures we see aren't standards failures — they're knowledge failures. A trained internal auditor leaves, no one's qualified to backfill, the audit calendar slips, the corrective actions stop closing, and the next surveillance audit finds a system that's drifted. We train your team so the QMS has internal redundancy — and so your auditors don't have to call us every time a finding comes up.
Training expertise built for critical manufacturing supply chains
Why Teams Call Us For Training
Three moments when teams bring us in
Most training engagements line up with one of three transitions. Knowing which one you're in helps us scope the right course.
Right before a certification audit
Your team needs the QMS in their heads, not just on the SharePoint. Half-day or full-day awareness training across operations, production, engineering, and customer service — so when the certification body's auditor asks “walk me through how you handle a customer complaint,” the answer doesn’t start with “I’d have to ask the quality manager.”
After a leadership change in quality
The previous quality manager built the QMS in their head. They're gone. The procedures exist but the rationale doesn't. We rebuild that knowledge layer through targeted training so the new team has more than a binder.
To bring auditing in-house
Most clients start with us as external auditors. As the QMS matures, they want internal auditors who can run the day-to-day cadence. We train them to a level where they pass the certification body's competence checks — and we stay available for the bigger audits (annual, mock, supplier) the team isn't ready to run yet.
What We Train
Four course types. Pick the one your team needs
The courses below are the ones we deliver most often. We also build custom curricula for specific customer-required topics (FOD prevention, counterfeit-parts control, supplier development) when the off-the-shelf course doesn't fit. Every course runs as a defined project: scope, agenda, materials, exam, certificate, and a follow-up status check.
Internal Auditor Training
Standards-specific (ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO 13485, ISO 14001) auditor courses delivered on-site at your facility or virtually. Includes clause interpretation, audit planning, interview technique, evidence review, findings documentation, and follow-up. Two-day and three-day formats. Participants finish with a written exam, a practice audit, and a certificate of completion that holds up to the certification body's competence requirements.
Awareness Training
Half-day or full-day overview training for your broader team — operations, production, engineering, customer service, shipping — so everyone understands why the QMS matters and what their role is. Especially useful before a certification audit, after a leadership change, or when you're onboarding a new functional group into an existing QMS. Tuned to the standard you certify under.
Lead Auditor Prep
For your in-house quality leaders pursuing IRCA, Exemplar Global, or ASQ Lead Auditor certification. We prep them for the exam and the role — not a substitute for the accredited course, but the in-context coaching that makes the formal course stick. Most useful for quality managers stepping into a lead role or being asked to run supplier audits at scale.
Special-Process Training
For aerospace operations doing heat treating, chemical processing, welding, or NDT — the processes Nadcap accredits. Process control, operator qualification, pyrometry compliance, RCCA. Taught by consultants with backgrounds inside aerospace special-process operations and Nadcap Assessor credentials.
Standards Portfolio
Trained on every standard we consult on
The same named team that implements and audits your QMS trains your team to run it. No handoff between a consultant and a trainer who's never seen your operation.
AS9100 Consulting
The aerospace manufacturing baseline standard. Our courses verify that traceability, design control history, and First Article Inspections are completely secure.
AS9110 Consulting
Engineered for FAA repair stations and maintenance operators. Our training targets airworthiness records, human factors, and return-to-service validation trails.
AS9120 Consulting
Focused on aerospace logistics stockists. Training lot splitting control, counterfeit component prevention, and strict chain-of-custody documentation.
ISO 9001 Consulting
The universal baseline standard built to minimize waste, organize structural workflows, decrease business costs, and satisfy commercial contract qualification demands globally.
ISO 13485 Consulting
Designed to comply with clinical patient-safety demands. Aligns completely with European MDR/IVDR systems and FDA Quality System Regulations (QMSR).
ISO 14001 Consulting
The global benchmark for managing environmental impacts. Builds out systematic controls for energy management, legal adherence, and waste reduction loops.
Nadcap Consulting
Elite process-level accreditation support for heat treating, chemical processing, welding, and NDT. We help suppliers interpret PRI checklists and deploy bulletproof RCCA frameworks.
How We Deliver
On-site, virtual, or hybrid
Format follows the course. Some training works best in your facility, around your equipment. Some works fine on a video call. We’ll recommend a format on the first call.
On-Site
Best for auditor training, special-process training, and any course where the trainees benefit from walking the shop floor with the trainer. SoCal engagements include on-site without travel cost; out-of-state engagements are scheduled in blocks to keep travel efficient.
Virtual
Works well for awareness training, lead auditor prep, and clause-interpretation modules. Live-instructor only — we don’t sell pre-recorded “e-learning.” The interactivity is the point.
Hybrid
Common for multi-day auditor courses: classroom virtual, practice audit on-site. Combines instructor depth with hands-on application.
Our simple path to establishing organizational competence
We scope, develop, and deliver targeted learning experiences designed specifically around your operational context.
Course Scoping & Customization
We work with you to understand your audience, target standard, and organizational objectives. We customize curriculum topics, practical scenarios, and timeline parameters to fit your business.
Interactive Curricula Delivery
Our expert instructors lead energetic on-site workshops, hybrid sessions, or highly structured live webinars, avoiding stagnant slide decks and relying on team interaction and mock audits.
Competency Testing & Examinations
Internal auditing and specialty courses conclude with a rigorous, standard-specific exam and structured mock audit exercises to prove operational audit capabilities.
Formal Completion Certification
We supply compliant Completion Certificates documenting standards, training hours, and examination results to satisfy registrar compliance and supplier qualification checks.
Continuous Improvement Support
We remain available to help you periodically refresh your audit teams, adapt to major standard revisions, and onboard new functional groups seamlessly.
The Teaching Authority
The same named consultants who build your QMS
Most training operations either hire dedicated trainers who’ve never run a real implementation, or outsource training entirely to a third party who’s never seen your operation. We do neither.
Training engagements are led by Connie Smith, who founded American Quality Management (AQM) in 2009 and continues to lead it as Owner and Principal, alongside the AQM consulting team. Connie holds a parallel Lead Auditor credential at DNV since 2011, with a Master of Science in Quality Assurance from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She teaches in English, Spanish, and Italian — useful when training spans multilingual operations, which is common across the SoCal manufacturing base.
The broader consulting team brings the same dual perspective: AS9100 Lead Auditors, Nadcap Assessors, medical-device QA leaders, ASQ-certified quality professionals. Trainers become part of your team for the duration of the engagement — defined curriculum, scheduled sessions, written exam, practice audit, certificate of completion, and a follow-up touch point after the trainees go back to their day jobs.
Work with Connie Smith
Training questions, answered
Internal auditor training participants get a written exam, a practice audit, and a certificate of completion that documents the course, the trainer, the standard covered, the hours, and the date. That's the documentation the certification body looks for when verifying internal auditor competence. For accredited lead auditor certifications (IRCA, Exemplar Global, ASQ), you'd still need to sit the accredited course — our prep makes that course easier to pass.
We cap most courses around 12 participants to keep the interactivity high. Awareness training can run larger (20+). Auditor training works best at 6–12. We'll talk through your group size on the first call and recommend the right format.
Yes — and we recommend it. Most useful is when we've also consulted on or audited your QMS, so the training references your actual documentation, your actual audit findings, and your actual customer requirements. The training sticks because it's about your operation, not a generic example.
Most certification bodies expect documented competence reviews annually and refresher training every two to three years. We typically schedule refresher courses on a two-year cycle and rebaseline whenever you add a new standard, change a major process, or onboard new auditors.
Yes. SoCal engagements include on-site without travel cost. Out-of-state engagements are typically scheduled in two- or three-day blocks to keep travel efficient and the cost predictable. We've taught clients across the US.
Most of our clients do. The cleanest pattern is: consulting builds the QMS, awareness training rolls it out, auditor training builds the internal-audit bench, and refresher training keeps it sharp on a multi-year cadence. We scope the bundle on the first call.
Get Started
Tell us who needs training and on what
The first call covers the course, the audience, the standard, the format, and the calendar. No quote on the call — we'll send a scoped training plan within a week if we're the right fit.