(UPDATE Nov 11 2014: As anticipated, the rep in question has apparently appealed to the forum moderator, who — without any discussion with me — deleted the threads and banned my participation entirely. This is now the third AS9100 related forum on LinkedIn which an IAQG rep has either managed to shut down, edit, or ban critics from. The rep has now opened a thread criticizing consultants, without any objection by the moderator.)
This thread on LinkedIn is worth reading, in that it perfectly displays the typical response of a standards developer representative when challenged to provide data to support a position. Here’s the link:
90% of the Supply Chain Certified… Sure….
If you read it through, you see them throw every possible tactic onto the playing field, with none of them designed to do anything but derail the debate: first, claim there’s no data to support the argument; then, question the data when its provided; next, question the source of the data; then, misrepresent the data; then, misquote the data; then, denounce the speaker; then, denounce the tone of the speaker; make false allegations; engage in personal insults… and then repeat. There’s even an accusation of racism by an old white guy who didn’t like the term “old white guys.” It’s a blow-by-blow of how the IAQG and its supporters will engage in the dirtiest tactics to avoid having to actually support their views.
It’s also another revelatory insight into how the IAQG views its paying customer base, who they insist are not customers at all, and the outrageously fallacious argument that the “primes bear all the risk” in the aerospace world, even if they don’t pay any taxes, receive taxpayer funding, and would never get shut down if they failed to comply with AS9100, unlike the average user organization.
And nearly 50 comments in (at press time) no one has been able to provide any data to support the IAQG position.
Damning stuff, and still unfolding in real time. Check it out, and feel free to chime in.
UPDATE: It’s like watching a slow motion clown car crash. IAQG rep Jack Fletcher cannot contain his oozing contempt of the AS9100 user community. After making a two-day series of posts clearly intended to shut down the discussion in any way possible, Fletcher not only didn’t deny the attempt, but sneered an entirely worse motive:
That single post summarizes the typical IAQG viewpoint with utter clarity. First, that they view anyone disagreeing with them as “annoying mosquitos” who deserve to be swatted. Next, that the only valid way of communicating any criticism of IAQG is by physically attending meetings which, in his case, were funded by Lockheed, Northrup, Textron and NASA. Next, he boasts about being a “voting member,” ignorant of the fact that had I or any of my clients attended, we would not have been voting members, because that’s prohibited by the very companies he listed. Finally, he can’t even contain his contempt with the visual metaphor that had I attended, I would be in “the back of the room,” while he sits in front.
The only thing he needs to do to make himself into more of a villain is to twirl his mustache and tie an old lady to a railroad track. It’s absolutely fascinating stuff! The IAQG echo chamber is so hermetically sealed, even when they go on a full-on, public explodathon, they remain utterly oblivious to how their contempt will be viewed by the people paying their way.
UPDATE 2: Fletcher has continued his assault in another utterly innocuous post which actually credits the IAQG for having to fix a problem created by ISO TC 176. In this thread, Fletcher claims that merely saying the IAQG “faces a tricky challenge” amounts to “working the population into a frenzy about Ebola.” Seriously, he went to the Ebola thing; go read it.
Afterwards, you can read similar stuff by yet another (former?) AAQG rep who popped an o-ring while frothing against AS9100 users, all in public, too. Click here.
Or go back in time to the heady days of 2012 when the AAQG banned itself, in order to stop criticism from users. Click here.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
