Jack Fletcher (visual approximation)
This one’s a tough one to report on, but it’s so mind-boggling, it can’t go without saying something.
Jack Fletcher — you remember, this guy — is currently in some hot water after he publicly posted a physical threat on LinkedIn, claiming he wanted to use a “baseball bat” on me. That prompted me to file three separate police reports against him, and hand him over to my lawyer. (You see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes?) Not that I am concerned that a retired, wine-sipping ex-Lockheed dweeb can actually lift a baseball bat, but you apparently have to file these reports in the event things go to court.
Later, Fletcher — who has also spent a curious amount of time denying he had anything to do with the recent Oxebridge web hack, even though exactly no one accused him of it — explained he didn’t mean to hurt me, but just to damage my property, because it’s important to ensure the public knows the exact criminal offenses you are announcing online, I guess. Whatever. So I didn’t want to keep reporting on Fletcher, but this latest bit is just too unbelievable — or believable if you have come to understand the ISO system the way I have — to let pass.
Remember, Fletcher is an AS9100 consultant who insists, when it suits him, that he’s retired, and apparently left (according to him) the AAQG after being the bad boy who bucked the system. Nevertheless, he’s replaced Sidney Vianna as the foot-in-mouth defender of the IAQG, AAQG, OASIS and anything having to do with AS9100, which is odd since he doesn’t have much good to say about any of the guys running it over there. (Buddy Cressionnie’s ears must have burned a few times, in particular.)
So today, in another thread on LinkedIn, Fletcher made a declaration on the ease of providing third-party certification audits to AS9100 clients. You know, the ones building airplanes that put people in them, and rockets that fly astronauts into orbit.
As I’ve said before, in dealing with a mature, well functioning QMS, the external auditor should almost be able to look at Internal Audit, Management Review and C/A and be able to grab a jelly donut on the way out of the door.
Yeah, you don’t believe me, right? Well have a look, since it’s likely to disappear quickly. (UPDATE: It’s gone already.)
Now I don’t have the link to the thread (Fletcher has me banned from the group correction, see below), but I have seen a PDF of it, and his post isn’t out of context. He really means it, and goes on to try and give the comment a sheen of validity by saying, “Get these 3 right… and the rest will follow.”
Sounds good, except it’s utter nonsense. An aerospace QMS is a complex organism that requires careful review and deep analysis, and should never be certified on the basis of “those 3.” But it does give cover to the legions of lazy auditors who, in fact, focus more on the flavor of the donuts served to them than the actual job they’re being paid to do. And it fully explains the official IAQG position that says it’s fine for CB auditors to merely “verify” objective evidence on a PEAR written by the client themselves, rather than requiring the auditor to fill out the PEAR with evidence he’s obtained independently… you know, as required in the accreditation rules and CB contracts.
Fletcher’s opinion also contradicts official AS9101 rules, which take the opposite position: they require PEARs for all processes except Internal Audit, Management Review and Corrective Action. I think that’s just as bad, since CBs should be auditing all processes, but at least it shows how out of step Fletcher is with the group he stoops so low to defend.
I suppose you can’t stop a retired guy from saying whatever he wants “unofficially,” but I suspect the IAQG might want to try, and suggest Fletcher stand down before he reveals the true secrets of how they run the AS9100 certification scheme, which would look something like this:
(*Correction: Technically the LinkedIn group in question “AS91xx Series – Tips and Advice” is run by Phill Mason, who banned me for challenging the IAGQ and registrars. Mason is (apparently) one of those consultants whose business model is to cozy up to the CBs, creating a weird conflict of interest that — one supposes — works out for him. Fletcher is just a moderator there. The whole thing just reeks of the stench of collusion between ABs, CBs, standards bodies and their “safe” preferred consulting puppets.– CP)
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
