Quality Reliability interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your quality + reliability background.
2. Tell me about a quality or reliability programme you've owned.
3. Why aerospace + defense quality + reliability vs commercial manufacturing or medical device?
4. Why this domain - aviation / space / missiles / electronics?
5. Why the firm?
6. What's your read on our programme + quality posture?
7. Tell me what you understand about our quality culture + management system.
8. Walk me through a nonconformance + MRB disposition you led.

Technical concepts to master

• AS9100 QMS + Nadcap

  AS9100 structure · Nadcap special processes · AS9102 First Article Inspection · Counterfeit parts mitigation · Customer surveillance + DCMA QAR

• MRB + nonconformance + FRACAS

  MRB (Material Review Board) · NCR / CAR / SCAR · FRACAS (Failure Reporting, Analysis + Corrective Action System) · 8D + 5-Why + Fishbone (Ishikawa) · Reliability growth tracking

• Reliability math + test

  MTBF allocation + apportionment · Prediction methods (MIL-HDBK-217 / Telcordia / FIDES / PoF) · FMEA / FMECA / FTA · HALT / HASS / ALT · Weibull + Bayesian field data analysis

• SPC + sampling + MSA

  SPC + control charts · Cpk + Ppk + Cp + Pp · Statistical sampling (Z1.4 / Z1.9 / 1916) · MSA (Measurement System Analysis) · Process capability + Six Sigma DMAIC

Practical drills

• A machined titanium fitting on a flight-critical assembly is presented to MRB with a 0.003 inch oversized hole (drawing tolerance +/- 0.002 inch). The customer wants delivery in 5 days for a flight test. Walk through your MRB approach.
• A new airborne electronics LRU has a contractual MTBF requirement of 5,000 hours in fighter aircraft environment. The LRU has 4 CCAs - power supply, processor, signal conditioning, I/O. Walk through your allocation + prediction approach.
• A tier-1 supplier reports 3 in-service failures of a circuit card assembly in the past 60 days - all traced to solder joint cracking on a particular BGA component. The fleet has 200 units in service. PPAP was approved 18 months ago. Walk through your engineering + quality response.

Smart-question anchors

• Programme + production stage - LRIP / FRP / sustainment shaping quality + reliability load
• Quality function authority - independent of programme + reporting line to chief quality officer
• AS9100 + Nadcap + customer surveillance posture - audit history + Nadcap special processes on-site
• DCMA QAR + FAA + EASA engagement - daily oversight model + recent findings
• Reliability programme maturity - FRACAS deployment, MIL-HDBK-217 vs Telcordia vs FIDES practice, HALT / HASS adoption

Sourced from

SAE AS9100D + AS9102B + AS9145 + AS13100 aerospace QMS standards · Performance Review Institute (PRI) Nadcap programme + audit handbooks · MIL-HDBK-217F + MIL-HDBK-781A + MIL-STD-1629A DoD reliability standards · Telcordia SR-332 + FIDES Guide 2022 reliability prediction methodologies · AIAG MSA + FMEA Reference Manuals + ANSI / ASQ Z1.4 + Z1.9 sampling · SAE ARP4754A + ARP4761 aerospace recommended practices