Napoleon Engineering Services have announced the expansion of their bearing inspection capabilities to include first article inspections (FAI) per customer or AS9102 standards. As the largest independent bearing inspection facility in North America, NES Bearings routinely offers a number of in-depth bearing inspection programs, designed to provide OEMs with the added confidence in the reliability of their manufactured bearings. FAI is a comprehensive, independent and fully documented quality control process, used by aerospace manufacturers to verify that the delivered first run bearing of a supplier conforms to all required physical and mechanical specifications, as well as ensuring that bearing production and tooling have been completed via stable, repeatable processes. Such physical and functional inspections of manufactured bearings verify that prescribed production methods are capable of producing a part that is within tolerance and manufactured according to engineering drawings, specifications, purchase orders, planning documents, or other industry or customer best practices. FAI is used to further verify that associated documentation and tooling are capable of producing parts and assemblies that meet these requirements.The FAI process itself is repeated when engineering design enhancements, tooling, or manufacturing process changes invalidate the initial inspection results.

As a renowned custom aerospace bearing manufacturer in its own right, NES Bearings offers specific core competencies in high-precision custom ball and roller bearings using superelastic Ni-Ti alloys; wear-resistant, high-life materials and coatings; and advanced design technologies. With these capabilities, the company has cemented its position as a key resource for bearing manufacturers, distributors, and related OEMs within the aerospace, agricultural, defense, automotive drivetrain, industrial, off-highway, oil & gas, space technology, centrifugal pump and turbomachinery, and medical sectors. The company's extensive knowledge of bearing design and development translate into unique understanding of the bearing inspection process, particularly within aerospace and defense.