Supply Chain View from the Field

Category Archives: Aerospace Supply Chain

1. The Dreamliner Debacle Continues….the Death of Outsourcing?

   February 5, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Aerospace Supply Chain, Business Process Outsourcing, Design for Supply Chain, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management

   Tim Cummins, CEO of the International Association of Commercial and Contract Management (IACCM), notes in his blog Commitment Matters that Dreamliner’s battery problems are perhaps due to the lack of procurement competencies that exist in the organization.  This is an interesting observation, and as he predicts, hardly marks the end of outsourcing.  In fact, many [...]

   [2 comments]

2. Airbus, Boeing, and CAT Discover Supplier Integration Comes Down to Hard Work

   July 11, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Aerospace Supply Chain, Category Management, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Market Intelligence

   The article in today’s WSJ refers to the new approach being used by Airbus and Boeing to “integrate” suppliers.  Supplier integration and collaboration are terms that are thrown around a bit too much for my liking, primarily because they don’t reflect the true hard work that underlies this term. Boeing discovered this in 2007 according [...]

   [1 comment]

3. They’re Posted! Latest Supply Chain Sustainability Benchmark Reports!

   July 3, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Aerospace Supply Chain, MBA Supply Chain Programs, Procurement Sustainability, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability

   Every other year, a team of MBA students from the Poole College of Management take a one credit class I teach on supply chain sustainability.  As part of this class, students are assigned to teams to study a group of companies within a particular industry, and by applying the Supply Chain Sustainability index developed through [...]

   [No comments]

4. Building the Integrated Delivery System at Honeywell Aerospace

   April 18, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Aerospace Supply Chain, Inventory Management, Sales and Operations Planning, Supply Chain Strategy

   I had an opportunity to meet with the executive team at Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix this week, and learned a great deal about the interesting challenges that exist in the aerospace supply chain.  As can be expected, Honeywell has only a few major customers (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, etc.) in commercial, and a slightly larger amount [...]

   [4 comments]

5. Lean Aerospace Supply Management Developments

   April 2, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Aerospace Supply Chain, Business Process Outsourcing, Contract Management, Forecasting, Global Supply Chain, Inventory Management, Logistics, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Strategy

   In a recent set of interviews, I had an opportunity to learn about some of the recent developments in the aerospace industry, that is happening in both commercial and defense sectors.  As organizations seek to drive inventory out of the supply chain and improve working capital, while simultaneously reducing leadtimes and customer responsiveness, they are [...]

   [No comments]