Trusted Parts, Trusted Paperwork: FDH Aero Digitizes Its Certification Process with SmartCert

Green Bay, WI – December 2025 – SmartCert has partnered with FDH Aero (“FDH”), a global provider of supply chain solutions for the aerospace and defense industry, to digitize and streamline FDH’s certification workflows. The partnership supports FDH’s broader strategy to set a new industry standard for transparency, efficiency, and reliability across its global supply chain.

FDH Hardware, a division of FDH Aero, is deploying SmartCert across its global operations to centralize supplier documentation, accelerate reviews, and enhance traceability throughout the certification lifecycle. This initiative marks a major step in FDH’s digital transformation journey.

“There’s enormous friction in the supply chain. It’s hard enough to source the parts; managing certification shouldn’t add to the burden,” said Fred Short, Chief Growth Officer at FDH Hardware. “Technology will drive this shift and separate those who comply from those who don’t. SmartCert streamlines workflows and delivers measurable impact for our customers.”

With SmartCert, FDH transforms certification data into a digital asset—enabling faster decisions, stronger audits, and full visibility across supply tiers. The platform eliminates manual processes while maintaining version control, approval trails, and complete audit readiness.

AI-powered verification adds an additional layer of assurance by identifying inconsistencies, validating supplier data, and ensuring confidence in every certification received or issued.

“FDH Aero’s commitment to digital transformation reflects a forward-looking approach to customer and supplier collaboration,” said Lonni Kieffer, Co-Founder and COO of SmartCert. “By prioritizing traceability and efficiency, they’re setting a powerful example of how technology can deliver measurable improvement across the aerospace supply chain.”

Together, FDH Aero and SmartCert are advancing a shared vision of lifecycle-wide visibility and performance—shortening review cycles, reducing blind spots, and giving teams audit-ready confidence from creation to approval.

“When you compare the cost of waste to the cost of technology, the business case is clear,” added Fred Short, Chief Growth Officer at FDH Aero.

About FDH

Aero FDH Aero is a trusted global supply chain solutions partner for aerospace and defense companies, helping to shape the industry by simplifying the supply chain. With over 60 years of experience, it specializes in hardware, electrical, consumables & expendables, licensed products, and value-added services for global OEM and aftermarket customers. FDH is headquartered in Commerce, California, and has operations across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. FDH Aero – named a Best Place to Work in Aviation in 2024 – has locations in 15 countries across the globe, with more than 1,500 best-in-industry employees and over 650,000 square feet of inventory space.

For more information, please visit FDHAero.com.

About SmartCert

SmartCert is a digital platform that automates the exchange, creation, and management of certifications and documentation across manufacturing and aerospace supply chains. By transforming paper-based workflows into connected, auditable, and AI-enabled processes, SmartCert helps companies reduce administrative effort, strengthen compliance, and achieve full traceability. www.smartcert.tech