Nuclear Industry
Assessment Committee
Overview
ASQ Energy & Environmental Conference
August 28, 2006
Ed Stankiewicz
Joseph Oat Corporation
NIAC Chairman
Presentation Overview
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Brief history of NIAC
Organization structure
Benefits / recent audit activity
Comparison of NIAC / NUPIC approaches
Success examples
Status summary
History
• Founded in 1994 by 11 Charter members
• Patterned after the NUPIC concept subject to some interesting
challenges
– Needed to address the anti-trust (collusion) aspects of competitors
sharing audits
– Sharing arrangement resulted in an innovative ratio technique to
address assessment assignments
• Amended charter / checklists in 2003 /2004
– Include DOE complex suppliers
– Include Transportation and Storage 10CFR71 / 10CFR72
• Current membership is at 76 members
Organization Structure
• Executive Officers
• Steering Committee
• Compliance Committee
• General Membership
Organization Structure
• Executive Officers
– Chairman Ed Stankiewicz
Joseph Oat Corporation
– Vice-Chair Rosalie Nava
Crane Nuclear Inc.
– Secretary John De Kline
Enertech
– Treasurer John Salasky
Axion Technical Services
• Responsible for general direction of NIAC
activities as identified by the Steering
Committee
Organization Structure
• Steering Committee
– Executive Officers
– Up to 8 additional elected members
• Control and issuance of NIAC documents (meeting
minutes / procedures / audit plans and schedules)
• Administration of NIAC funds
• Identify matters subject to approval of the General
membership
– Issues of noncompliance
– Membership fee and dues structure
– Changes to NIAC operating procedures or NIAC charter
Organization Structure
• Compliance Committee
– Three person committee
– Led by an elected chair person
• Identify noncompliance issues for Steering Committee or
General Membership action
• Charter issues
– Attendance at annual meeting / performance of scheduled audits
– Performance of scheduled assessments
• Assessment quality issues
– Late issuance of assessment reports
– Lack of follow-up
– Quality Issues
Organization Structure
• General Membership
– Currently 76 members
• Attend annual membership meeting (November)
• Plan / perform assigned assessments
• Conduct assessments as a safety-related service
• Maintain Lead Auditor qualifications (ASME NQA-1 / ANSI 45.2.23)
• Obtaining supplier authorization to perform as a NIAC audit and share
results
• Provide audit plans / reports and follow-up information to sharing
members
Benefits
 Supplier quality assurance programs are evaluated using a consistent
basis.
• Standard methodology is utilized for the performance of supplier
assessments.
• Member companies save on audit costs by the sharing of assessment
results.
• Suppliers save on audit costs by a reduction in the number of
assessments conducted.
• Interface and cooperation between industry peers is increased.
Collectively NIAC members have improved the
quality of our audit processes to benefit of our
customers as well as our industry
Audit activity and savings
• Estimated aggregate
member savings over last
5 years - $2.5 Million
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
# Audits performed
• Based on dues, annual
meeting attendance and
performance of one
assessment and receiving
two - payback period for
participating member is in
the first year
Comparison NIAC / NUPIC
• Organization and Objectives
– Similar approaches and goals
– Executive leadership / committees
• Audit performance
– Equitable sharing arrangement
– NUPIC performs joint assessments
– NIAC charter prohibits joint assessments
– Members evaluate / accept assessments under their individual QA programs
• Similar benefits and cost savings to participating members
• Stable, institutionalized and effective processes
• Approaches have achieved industry / NRC acceptance
Some successes - examples
• Ability to address emergency needs
– Supplier of needed raw material not on QSL / AVL
– Normal “fire drill” would require dispatch of auditor to audit and
qualify supplier - 3 to 5 day cycle time
– Review NIAC database indicated a NIAC member had performed an audit
– NIAC at its best!!
• Contacted auditing member
• Processed authorization letter / forms
• Obtained / evaluated supplier audit report (pdf / overnight mail)
• Qualified supplier for use
– NIAC success - same day / next day cycle time
Some successes - examples
• Ability to address routine needs
– Overseas supplier of fabricated components needed by participating NIAC
member
– Participating member had audited and qualified supplier
– Routine request processed to share audit avoiding overseas travel
– NIAC success - evolving global nature of participating NIAC members is
becoming evident as sharing of European and Asian suppliers is becoming
more common
Status summary
• We’ve grown
• We’ve expanded beyond the nuclear utility supply base
• Processes continue to be stable and efficient
• Continuing to benefit participating members
• Continuing to benefit the nuclear industry
• Adapting to the global economy
– Sharing increased number of European and Asian supplier
assessments
– Membership expanding to non-US suppliers
Visit us @ WWW.NIACUSA.ORG