Quality policy and compliance statements
This is the document a quality engineer asks for during supplier qualification: the policy itself, the objectives it is measured against, the standards behind it, and the declarations your compliance team needs on file.
- First-pass yield floor
- 99.2 %
- On-time delivery floor
- 98 %
- Certificate copies
- Under NDA, 2 working days
- Record retention
- 10 years
Quality at FLASHPOINT PCBA is a set of numbers that can be missed, not a statement about intentions. The policy below commits the two plants to targets that are reported monthly, audited against the standards listed here, and released to customers on request. Certificate copies are issued under NDA because they carry our registration details; the statements themselves are public.
The quality policy statement and the objectives behind it
FLASHPOINT PCBA builds printed circuit board assemblies to the drawing, the specification and the IPC-A-610 class the customer names. We commit to four measurable objectives, reviewed at the monthly management review and reported to customers who ask for the programme scorecard:
- First-pass yield across all test gates
- ≥ 99.2 %
- On-time delivery against the confirmed ARO date
- ≥ 98 %
- Customer returns traced to workmanship
- < 0.5 % of units shipped
- CAPA closed inside the agreed window
- 95 % within 30 days
The policy is signed by the VP of Operations, posted at both plant entrances, and issued to every new employee during induction. Responsibility for it is delegated to the quality manager at each plant, who has the authority to stop a line, hold a shipment or reject a kit without referring the decision upward. Stopping a line is not a reportable event; shipping a known non-conformance is.
The standards we are assessed against, and what each one covers
A certificate number is never quoted on this site. Copies of every certificate below, with the registration details and the current expiry date, are released to a customer or a prospective customer under NDA, normally within 2 working days of the request.
| Standard | Scope at FLASHPOINT PCBA | Audit cycle |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001:2015 | Both plants, all processes from quoting to shipment | 12 months |
| ISO 13485:2016 | Medical device assemblies, San Jose and Penang | 12 months |
| IATF 16949:2016 | Automotive and EV programmes, both plants | 12 months |
| AS9100D | Aerospace and defense assemblies, San Jose | 12 months |
| ISO 14001:2015 | Environmental management, both plants | 12 months |
| ANSI/ESD S20.20-2021 | ESD control programme across the 12,000 sq ft store and all lines | 6 months |
| IPC-A-610 and J-STD-001 | Workmanship and soldering criteria, Class 1, 2 and 3 | Per program |
| UL 796 and UL 94V-0 | Laminate recognition for the assemblies we build | Per program |
Customer audits are welcome at either plant. A full-day process audit is normally scheduled within 30 days of the request; a documentation-only review of quality records is returned within 10 working days. Where a customer's own quality standard is stricter than IPC-A-610 Class 3, it is quoted as a special process with the added inspection time priced in rather than absorbed silently.
Calibration, traceability and the records we keep for 10 years
Every measuring instrument that can affect a pass or fail decision is on a calibration schedule: reflow profilers and thermocouples every 6 months, 3D SPI and AOI systems every 6 months, X-ray and CT systems every 12 months, torque drivers every 12 months, and reference standards annually against a traceable source. An instrument past its due date is locked out of the MES until it is recalibrated; the lockout is automatic, not a reminder.
Traceability starts at kit release and ends at the serial number on the assembly. Each board carries a board-level serial, and the MES record for that serial holds the paste-print data from 3D SPI on 100 % of boards, the reflow profile used with the 12-zone recipe identifier, the AOI result at each of the three gates, the X-ray images where the assembly carries BGA, CSP, LGA or QFN devices, and the functional test result with the fixture revision. Records are retained for 10 years in the IPC-1782 style data model, and a full record for one serial is retrieved within 4 hours during a production escalation.
Where a customer's own retention requirement is longer, for example a Class III medical device program, the record set is exported to the customer's format at the end of the program and handed over with the tooling.
Non-conformance, corrective action and how a CAPA actually runs
A non-conformance is anything that fails the drawing, the work instruction or the IPC-A-610 class in force. Material is segregated at the point of detection with a red hold tag, and the MES record cannot be advanced past that gate until quality releases it.
- Within 24 hours
Containment
The affected serial range is identified from the MES, stock in the store is quarantined, and any units already shipped from that range are flagged. The buyer is told within 24 hours if shipped product is affected.
- Within 5 working days
Root cause
A structured 8D or 5-why analysis is opened, with the escape point recorded: which of the print, reflow, AOI, X-ray and functional gates should have caught it, and why it did not.
- Within 30 days
Corrective action and verification
The action is written into the work instruction, the AOI recipe or the SPI limits, then verified over the next 3 production lots before the CAPA is closed. A CAPA that cannot be verified by data is not closed.
- Monthly
Trend review
Every open CAPA is reviewed at the management meeting against the four objectives above. Repeat findings from the same root cause escalate to the quality manager and, if a customer is affected, to that customer's quality contact.
Conflict minerals: the due diligence we run and what we report
We file tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold sourcing under the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, and we support our customers' reporting obligations under Section 13p-1 of the US Securities Exchange Act and under the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation.
Due diligence runs on the incoming side of the business, not after the fact. Component suppliers are surveyed annually with the standard conflict-minerals reporting template, and responses are held against the part number in our ERP. Smelter lists returned by those suppliers are compared against recognised responsible-sourcing programmes, and any smelter that cannot be identified as conformant is flagged and referred to the buyer before the part is released to a build. Smelter-level reporting for a specific bill of materials is available on request; typical turnaround is 10 working days because the answer comes from the distributor rather than from us.
We do not accept parts from a broker for a production build. Prototype quantities sourced outside a franchised channel are marked as such in the kit record, and the customer is told which lines are affected before the boards are built.
Anti-counterfeit sourcing, RoHS, REACH and the environmental statement
Anti-counterfeit control follows AS6081-style handling. Components come from franchised distribution or from the original manufacturer wherever the part is available through either route. Where a part can only be found on the open market, it is bought only with written customer approval, inspected on arrival with X-ray fluorescence, decapsulation or electrical test as the risk level requires, and the test result travels with the kit record. Suspect material is quarantined, reported to the manufacturer and to the relevant reporting body, and never returned to the open market.
RoHS declarations are issued against Directive 2011/65/EU as amended by (EU) 2015/863 for the ten restricted substances. REACH statements confirm that SVHC content in the assemblies we ship is below 0.1 % by weight unless a specific part is noted in writing before the build, and the SVHC list revision used for the declaration is stated on it. Both declarations name the part numbers they cover and are issued per shipment or per program, normally within 3 working days.
Under ISO 14001:2015 the plants manage solder dross, spent flux, cleaning effluent and electronics scrap as separate waste streams with licensed recyclers, and report the tonnage of electronics scrap recycled each year. Ionic contamination on cleaned assemblies is verified to 1.56 µg NaCl-eq/cm² or below in line with J-STD-001, which keeps the cleaning chemistry within its RoHS and REACH obligations as well as its process window.
ITAR, export control and requesting certificate copies
FLASHPOINT PCBA is ITAR registered at the San Jose plant. Defence articles, technical data and defence services are handled under that registration with access limited to screened US persons, and Penang is excluded from any program carrying ITAR-controlled data. A program that involves an export-controlled item, an ECCN-classified component or a dual-use technology is quoted only after the customer states the control status of the design and the end use in writing.
Every shipment leaving either plant is screened against the consolidated US and EU denied-party lists before it is booked, and a shipment that cannot be screened is held pending an end-use statement. We do not re-export a customer's design or technical data to a third country without written authorisation from that customer, and we can execute a technical-assistance agreement where a program needs one.
The quality system that underpins all of this is described in more detail on the quality system page. To request certificate copies, a conflict-minerals report, a RoHS or REACH declaration, or an audit slot at either plant, write to sales@flashpointpcba.com or call +1 408 555 0142. Data-handling terms are set out in the privacy notice, and location and shift details are on the contact page. To put a controlled program through a build, request a quote.