Quality Management and Assurance
Safety, quality, environmental awareness and the fulfillment of legal requirements are not only central elements of the DLR guidelines. They are the basis of our work at the DLR site in Lampoldshausen. For us, the protection of people and the environment and the safe operation of the test bench facilities go hand in hand. That is why we have our own safety and environmental management systems, which are continuously being developed. In order to meet the high quality standards and continuous improvement in test operations and space research, the quality-relevant activities at the DLR Institute of Space Propulsion are monitored and promoted. We are certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001, DIN EN ISO 14001, DIN EN ISO 45001 and DIN EN ISO 50001.
Quality assurance in test operation
The great market success of the European Ariane program is due in particular to increased quality and safety requirements in the space sector. The trend towards Europe-wide and international standardization of processes and compliance with mandatory requirements led to the establishment of a standardized safety, quality, environmental and energy management system. The Quality Managers support test bench operations in all project phases, from development to test operation and maintenance. For projects and test campaigns, the Quality Managers continuously develop the Product Assurance Plan based on customer-specific, regulatory, legal and internal requirements, monitor and support the implementation of requirements such as carrying out risk assessments, error and root cause analyses, lessons learned, tests, measures and the control of documented information. In addition, the quality of all departments is checked through internal audits, thus maintaining the high level of quality.
Environmental protection: consistent and sustainable implementation
DLR's environmental management system is certified in accordance with the international standard DIN EN ISO 14001. The environmental protection requirements are implemented on a daily basis and compliance with them is continuously monitored and documented. Our declared aim is to avoid harmful effects on the environment in all our activities, to assess risks in advance and to prepare preventive measures. Above all, this includes preventing reportable incidents and minimizing the impact of any incident that does occur by means of a functioning safety management system.