Nonconforming Material (NCM) refers to any product, material, part, or subassembly that does not meet one or more specified requirements, whether discovered during incoming inspection, in-process inspection, or FAI.
AS9100 Rev. D (clause 8.7) requires organizations to identify, document, segregate, and control nonconforming outputs to prevent their unintended use or delivery. NCM disposition options include: rework, repair, use-as-is (with concession), return to supplier, or scrap.
Use-as-is and repair dispositions require formal concession or deviation approval from the design authority or customer — a process that can take weeks and is expensive. This reinforces the importance of rigorous FAI: catching nonconformances at the first article stage is far less costly than discovering them in serial production.
In the context of FAI, any characteristic measured outside its tolerance on Form 3 creates a nonconformance. The FAI is not approved until all nonconformances are dispositioned — either corrected and re-measured, or covered by an approved concession.
Concrete example
During FAI, a bore diameter is measured at 24.96 mm against a tolerance of 25.00 ± 0.02 mm. The 0.02 mm deviation below LSL creates an NCM. The team decides to rework the part, remeasure, and resubmit Form 3 before FAI approval.