The Other Half of Certification: Production

Type Cert proves an aircraft design is safe. Production Cert proves it can be built safely, from the 1st to the 1,000th unit.

Like Type Cert, it’s a structured process of elements approved by the regulator.

1️⃣ Application | What will be built, how, AND where (each facility is individually approved).
2️⃣ Configuration Control | Systems that track every part to record that it matches the approved design (all the way to the original raw materials!).
3️⃣ Quality Management System | Inspection plans, supplier audits, part traceability, employee training, and corrective actions (the manufacturer’s “playbook”).
4️⃣ Conformity Inspection 🏆 | Processes that verify that parts (and tooling that makes them) conform to the design.  This lets the manufacturer certify each aircraft as airworthy.
5️⃣ Continued Airworthiness | Procedures (e.g., service bulletins) to correct defects in aircraft already in service.

👉 The process is structured and knowable. The real challenge comes from the capital industrial effort required to apply this to a modern airliner: millions of parts, hundreds of suppliers in a global, multi-tier system, unprecedented complexity.

The data tell the story.

Normalized against unfulfilled orders, older programs (dashed lines) like the 727 and 747 ramped quickly, delivering large shares of their backlogs in the first years. Newer programs (solid lines) like the 787, A350, and A220 ramped far more slowly. Complexity and industrialization – not certification – are the true bottlenecks.

🛫 The path forward is clear: the industry needs aircraft architectures that manage complexity instead of compounding it.  Architectures that simplify industrialization, ramp production, and safeguard quality.

Architectures that are modular.

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Sources: Delivery data pulled from Wikipedia