Three services. Seven standards. One long-term partner.
American Quality Management (AQM) delivers three services that work together: consulting to design and implement your quality management system, internal auditing to verify it stays compliant between certification cycles, and training to build the in-house expertise your QMS needs to run without us. Most clients start with one and end up retaining us for all three across multiple certifications and years.
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Three Core Services
Built to work together — sold separately when that's what you need
Most consultants offer "consulting." We offer three discrete services that interlock. You can engage us for one and only one, or for the bundle, or for what most of our clients end up needing: consulting first, then an internal-audit retainer, then training when you’re ready to bring more of the work in-house.
Consulting
We design, build, and implement your QMS against the standards your customers and regulators require — ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS9100, AS9110, AS9120, ISO 13485, and Nadcap. Documentation, procedures, training plans, and certification readiness, all engineered to survive the audit and the supplier audits that come after.
See Consulting Standards →Internal Auditing
Every quality standard requires internal audits. Few internal teams have the bandwidth or independence to run them well. We audit the QMS we build for you, and the QMS we didn’t — pre-certification gap audits, annual internal audits, supplier audits when you’re the customer, and mock audits ahead of the certification body’s visit.
Learn About Our Auditing →Auditor & Awareness Training
Internal auditor training delivered on-site or virtually. Specialized courses for aerospace, medical-device, and Nadcap audiences. Awareness training for your broader team so the QMS isn’t carried by one person. Most often delivered inside a consulting engagement, available standalone when you already have the QMS but need sharper auditors.
Browse Training →Consulting Standards
The seven standards we implement
Each card below is a real engagement path. Click through for the depth — process timeline, scope, FAQ, what an engagement costs in broad ranges. If you’re not sure which standard your customer is asking for, start with ISO 9001 or AS9100 depending on whether you’re general manufacturing or aerospace — most of the others build from there.
AS9100 Consulting
Whether you are a tier-one direct supplier to aerospace giants or a smaller independent shop involved in the supply chain, AS9100 has become the industry standard in aerospace for good reason. Find out how becoming certified can impact your business and how you can get the most out of AS9100.
AS9110 Consulting
Specialized systems engineered for aircraft repair stations, MROs, and aviation maintenance operators. We embed FAA/EASA airworthiness tracking, human factors, and strict technical records control.
AS9120 Consulting
Designed for logistics suppliers and stockists reselling parts. We build split-lot control, lot traceability, counterfeit prevention systems, and manage registration within the IAQG OASIS database.
ISO 9001 Consulting
ISO 9001 is the benchmark for quality management systems worldwide in virtually every industry. Find out how working with an expert consultant can help your organization implement ISO 9001 with the greatest impact on your bottom line, quality, and customer satisfaction.
ISO 13485 Consulting
We design medical quality systems that meet FDA regulations, align with European Union MDR/IVDR mandates, organize Design History Files (DHF), and structure robust ISO 14971 risk loops.
ISO 14001 Consulting
Customers and regulators increasingly expect documented environmental management. Adopting ISO 14001 is a cost-effective way to assure that your business’s effect on the environment is measured and improved. Find out how easy it is to implement and benefit from ISO 14001.
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.
Internal Auditing Services
What we audit, and why
Audits aren’t just a box to tick before the certification body shows up. The ones that matter most are the ones nobody’s required to do — the ones you choose to run because your QMS will be stronger for them.
1. Pre-certification gap audits
We map your current state against every clause of the target standard and produce a written gap report with closure timelines. Most useful three to six months before you intend to certify, or any time you’re considering a new standard for the first time.
2. Annual internal audits
Every ISO and AS standard requires internal audits at planned intervals. We run them as an independent extension of your quality team, with findings tied to corrective actions and follow-through verification.
3. Pre-certification mock audits
Two to four weeks before the certification body’s audit, we walk your QMS the way the auditor will — interviews, document review, process observation, findings. By the time the real audit happens, there are no surprises.
4. Supplier audits
When you’re the customer holding suppliers accountable for AS9100, ISO 13485, or Nadcap compliance, we audit them on your behalf. Useful for aerospace primes’ Tier-2 suppliers and medical-device contract manufacturers.
Training Services
What we train your team to do
A QMS that runs on one person doesn’t survive that person leaving. We train enough of your team that the system has internal redundancy — and so your auditors don’t have to call us every time a finding comes up.
1. 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 techniques, evidence review, findings documentation, and follow-up. Two-day or three-day formats.
2. ISO awareness training
Half-day or full-day overview training for your broader team — operations, production, engineering, customer service — so everyone understands why the QMS matters and what their role is. Especially useful before a certification audit or after a leadership change.
3. Lead auditor preparation
For your in-house quality leaders who want to pursue 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.
4. Special-process training (aerospace)
For Nadcap audiences: heat treating, chemical processing, welding, NDT. Process control, operator qualification, RCCA — taught by consultants who’ve worked inside aerospace special-process operations.
The five phases of an AQM engagement
Most consulting engagements run six to nine months from kickoff to certification. Some are faster (existing QMS, motivated team, smaller scope); some take longer (greenfield, multi-site, integrating with customer-specific requirements). The five phases below are the same whether you’re certifying ISO 9001 for the first time or layering AS9110 on top of an existing AS9100 system.
Gap Analysis & Baseline Diagnostic
We execute a complete analytical audit of your existing processes against your target standards (ISO, AS, or Nadcap). This surfaces gaps and builds an exact, low-risk roadmap to certification.
System Architecture & Documentation Design
Our specialists draft quality manuals, standard operating procedures, and technical specifications, integrating critical regulatory rules smoothly into your daily operational patterns.
Internal Auditing & Implementation Testing
We perform pre-assessment audits against exact registrar criteria. Our certified lead auditors test workflow execution, train internal teams, and establish closed corrective actions.
Management Review & Leader Alignment
We structure routine, data-driven management reviews to evaluate post-market outputs, production safety parameters, and key risk updates, ensuring active executive support.
Active Registrar Defense & Certification
We help you choose leading accredited Registrars or Notified Bodies. We can coordinate with registrars and stand beside your team during the live audit to secure certification approval.
Engagement Questions, Answered
Most engagements start with consulting alone. About half of those clients add internal auditing as a retainer once they’re certified, and a smaller share add formal training. There’s no requirement to bundle. We’ll tell you on the first call which services actually make sense for your situation — and which you can run in-house once we’ve built it.
Consulting engagements toward certification are usually scoped as a fixed project with milestones tied to the five-phase lifecycle. Post-certification internal auditing is most often a quarterly or annual retainer with a defined audit schedule. Training is priced per course. We’ll quote specifically after the first call.
Six to nine months from kickoff to the certification body audit is typical. ISO 9001 from a clean slate can be on the shorter end; AS9100 with Nadcap added is often on the longer end. Multi-site or multi-standard engagements take longer. We’ll tell you honestly on the first call whether your target timeline is realistic.
Both. Most of our SoCal engagements include on-site time during the gap analysis, mock audits, and certification audit phases. Documentation work and training are often remote. Engagements outside SoCal are typically remote with one to two on-site visits at key milestones.
Most of our clients retain us between certification cycles for surveillance-audit prep, internal audits, multi-cert expansions (adding AS9100, Nadcap, ISO 14001, etc.), and ongoing improvement work. There’s no contract that forces it — the work just continues. If you only need one cert and have no plans beyond it, we’ll tell you on the first call.
Often. We’re frequently brought in after another consultant’s documentation has been audited and found insufficient, or after an in-house effort stalled. We’ll do a quick assessment of where things stand, what’s salvageable, and what needs to be redone. It’s almost always less work than starting over.
Get Started
Start with a conversation, not a quote
The first call covers where you are, where your customers need you to be, and which of our services actually fit. No quote on the call. We’ll send a scoped proposal within a week if we’re the right fit, and tell you honestly if we’re not.