Nonconformance tracking app for an aerospace supplier in London: cost and audit trail (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For an aerospace supplier with 180 employees, certified AS9100D and handling 600 nonconformances a year, a custom nonconformance tracking app costs, as a 2026 order of magnitude, GBP 21,500 to 43,000 excluding VAT and ships in 3 to 4 months. The first gain shows in the average closure time, which drops from 45 to 20 days, then in customer audit preparation, which falls from several days to a few hours. The trap is to copy the spreadsheet onto a screen instead of structuring the 8D method, corrective actions and lot traceability.

What the app costs, module by module

A shared spreadsheet works while three people feed it. At 600 records a year, with reports coming from machining, surface treatment and final inspection, it becomes impossible to prove who decided what, when, and on which serial numbers. That is exactly what prime contractors' auditors and the certification body ask for under clauses 8.7 (control of nonconforming outputs) and 10.2 (corrective action) of AS9100D.

The core version covers a single site. The full version pays off as soon as you manage several sites, customer concessions or containment responses within 24 to 48 hours, a deadline that several primes now set in their supplier quality requirements.

Spreadsheet, off-the-shelf software or custom app

Comparing over five years avoids choosing on the entry price alone. The figures below are 2026 orders of magnitude for about 60 users (reporting operators, inspectors, engineering, quality, management).

Custom is not always the right answer. If your processes match a specialist vendor's standard and you have fewer than 20 users, a licence may be enough. It becomes relevant when the shop floor must report in under two minutes from a tablet, when the 8D must follow your customers' exact format and when traceability must flow from the ERP without double entry.

The indicators that move after go-live

The values below are realistic targets commonly set on this type of project, to be checked against your own history.

Mini case study

Priya, quality manager at a 180-employee precision machining supplier in west London, an illustrative persona, builds her business case. Logging time drops from 25 to 6 minutes over 600 records, saving 190 hours a year. Consolidation and chasing, which take 0.8 FTE, fall to 0.3 FTE: 0.5 FTE at GBP 48,000 fully loaded is GBP 24,000 a year. If defect recurrence falls from 18 % to 8 %, that is 60 nonconformances avoided, at an average cost of poor quality of GBP 1,000, or GBP 60,000. Against a budget of GBP 32,000 and GBP 6,000 of annual maintenance, payback comes in under six months, even counting only half of those gains.

FAQ

How long does deployment take?

Allow 3 to 4 months: 3 weeks of scoping with quality and the shop floor, 8 to 10 weeks of development, then 3 weeks of testing on a pilot cell. Rolling out to the whole site then takes 2 to 4 weeks.

Are electronic signatures accepted in an AS9100 audit?

Yes, a simple electronic signature under UK eIDAS, combined with named user authentication and a time-stamped audit trail, is enough for internal quality records. Check the retention period your customers require, often 10 years minimum and sometimes the full life of the aircraft programme.

Can we migrate our spreadsheet history?

Yes. Three years of history, about 1,800 records, typically migrates for GBP 1,300 to 2,600 after defect codes are cleaned. That lets you calculate recurrence from day one.

Where is the app hosted?

It can be hosted in the UK, for example in an AWS or Azure London region, for GBP 70 to 170 a month. If some parts fall under export controls, access can be restricted by role and by programme.

Do we need tablets on the shop floor?

One rugged tablet per cell is enough, so 6 to 10 devices at GBP 350 to 600 each for a site this size. Operators report with a photo and a defect code, without a keyboard.

Let's scope your project. Send us your nonconformance volume, your customers' 8D formats and your ERP, and we will price the scope, the indicative budget and the rollout plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.