“With the achievement of the EN 9120 certification, we elevate our service to an even higher level. For our customers, this not only means the guarantee of complete traceability and unprecedented quality assurance but also the certainty that our processes from supplier to end product are internationally streamlined and fully secured according to the strictest standards in aviation, defense, and aerospace.”

When Dennis Wijnants, director of Metel, says this, he summarizes the core of our recent milestone well. Quality has been central at Metel for years. As a stockholder of high-performance Metals, our materials form the basis for critical applications. That is why we recently took an important step: we are officially EN 9120 certified by TÜV in Germany, one of the strictest certification bodies in Europe. This certificate is specially developed for aviation and defense.

Why EN 9120?

In aviation and aerospace, there is no room for uncertainty. Every component, no matter how small, must be traceable back to the source: if an aircraft unexpectedly fails, it must be exactly traceable where every part comes from, down to the original mine.

Where ISO 9001 provides a general quality framework, EN 9120 enforces much stricter documentation and control of every step in the supply chain. Companies with this certification are internationally registered in the OASIS system, and unlike the three-year cycle of ISO 9001, Metel is audited annually. This keeps us sharp: where a regular certification may suffice with the intention to do something well, the aviation standard requires you to demonstrate what you have actually done and how it is secured.

A link between factory and customer

The EN 9100 standard family has different variants per role in the chain: a producing factory follows EN 9100, a maintenance organization EN 9110, and a stockholder like Metel EN 9120. These roles complement each other: the Titanium factory with which Metel cooperates is itself EN 9100 certified, while Metel as a stockholder carries the EN 9120.

Interestingly, the certification does not automatically open up a whole new market. Because that Titanium factory is already aviation certified, it was always allowed to deliver directly to the end customer, with Metel as an intermediary. What was not allowed until now is that Metel itself delivers directly to aviation and defense customers without its own certification. With the EN 9120 certification in hand, that changes.

The three pillars of our certification

Our service now rests even more firmly on three essential pillars: complete traceability, uncompromising quality, and reliable delivery performance.

1. Complete traceability

Traceability forms the absolute core of the EN 9120 standard. Every material that enters Metel and leaves the stock is provided with unique heat numbers and batch data, which are directly anchored in the CRM and article system. From the packing slip to the order confirmation, everything corresponds exactly with the material certificate the customer receives.

“It is remarkable how much value is actually added to a piece of Metal,” Dennis notes. “You might think it’s about the Alloy, but it’s just as much about traceability, certainty, quality level, and tolerances. This documentation excludes the possibility that so-called counterfeit parts ever end up in an aircraft: parts that can no longer be traced or have something wrong with them. That is why we also test material with X-ray or ultrasonic inspection, a kind of MRI scan that lets you look through the Metal for cracks, air bubbles, or a piece of carbon that entered during melting. That gives a good feeling: when you board an aircraft, you know everything is documented in detail and human error is minimized.”

2. Uncompromising quality

Quality at Metel goes beyond just the Alloy of the Metal; it is equally about tolerances. Customers often process the materials on fully automatic CNC lathes, where a rod, for example, must have an h9 tolerance. The lower that tolerance number, the narrower the margin within which delivery must occur. If a rod falls just outside that margin due to a measurement error at the factory, an automated machine jams, causing time and financial loss for the customer. The problem rarely lies in the Alloy itself but in a measurement error: not every factory has a 3D measuring machine to measure accurately enough.

To prevent this, Metel works exclusively with reliable manufacturers, and measurement reports are checked at the factory before the material is shipped. If a deviation is detected, an 8D procedure starts immediately, documenting where it went wrong, what the cause is, and which corrective actions must prevent recurrence.

3. Delivery reliability and supply performance

A tight schedule is essential in the current market. That is why Metel continuously screens and monitors suppliers: do they deliver on time, are documents such as material certificates and packing lists complete, and how often are material defects found? If a manufacturer underperforms, Metel increases the control frequency and actively pursues process improvement; in extreme cases, a supplier is dismissed.

At the same time, Metel critically evaluates its own logistics chain because sometimes physics simply plays a role. Dennis tells about a customer case where this became apparent: “We had a customer with a tolerance problem where the material was neatly within the margin at the factory but arrived just outside tolerance here. During transport, with temperature fluctuations between about minus ten and plus thirty degrees, the Metal expanded slightly due to its expansion coefficient. By sharing that insight with the customer and adjusting the tolerance slightly wider but still workable in consultation, we solved it together.”

What does the customer notice?

In daily practice, existing customers will notice little of the transition because Metel’s working method was already very close to this standard. The difference lies mainly in the formal assurance by TÜV.

The certificate immediately reduces administrative burdens and thresholds for customers. For some customers, this certification means their own mandatory audit of Metel as a supplier is no longer required, saving time and administrative work. Other customers spend much less time requesting additional information or quality documents because everything is now standardly registered and delivered according to the strict aviation standard. The threshold to do business with Metel is thus significantly lowered.

This certificate is not a static document on the wall. “We were already largely working according to this methodology,” Dennis concludes, “only it had not been audited and certified before. You can say you do it well, but an independent certifier can objectively prove it. The expectation is that customers will mainly see the quality level of our service rise further in the coming years.”