Improved Delivery Rates for Aerospace Equipment Manufacturer

THE CHALLENGE

A Fortune 100 Global Aerospace Equipment Manufacturer was experiencing 40% on-time delivery rates for machined forging parts with little insight as to the cause. Since they were managing critical supply chain data on Excel spreadsheets, they were unable to reconcile data across business units, systems and suppliers. Supply chain stakeholders were routinely purchasing the same forgings using different part numbers. They also had low visibility and control over the component parts and raw materials that went into their procured parts and assemblies.

THE SOLUTION

The aerospace equipment manufacturer engaged us to establish end-to-end, multi-tier supply chain visibility, encompassing all assemblies, parts, and raw material suppliers. They wanted to streamline strategic sourcing and procurement processes and better manage external on-time delivery risks for long lead-time materials. We utilized our visibility and analytics platform for multi-tier supply chains, SDX. The platform was able to systematically forecast and manage forging raw material and component part requirements. This led to providing proactive insight and analytics in several key areas.

SDX then non-destructively mapped a full Bill of Material for 54,613 forging part numbers. This allowed the client to gain full visibility into the materials going into procured parts. It then matched part attributes with forging/casting supplier capabilities. Additionally, it created ‘centers of excellence’ for certain casting & forging manufacturing and special processes.

The platform also established a ‘smart part’ number naming convention for forecasting and established equivalency relationships between parts. We achieved full traceability / connectivity from the purchase part number on schedule, to the machined part number, all the way back to the raw material. With a fully mapped Bill of Materials, we accessed better demand forecasting and increased capacity to influence negotiations with distribution and mill sources.

Lastly, we tracked and enforced collaborative purchasing programs. This was achieved by monitoring whether contract manufacturers bought material at the correct time and in the correct quantity. We then reported on subcontractor forging purchase orders and measured critical variances between expected and actual purchases.

THE IMPACT

SDX delivered end-to-end visibility and control of materials over their supply chain. This includes:

• Visibility into part attributes, part number characteristics and alternative suppliers, and
• Full traceability from finished aircraft assembly back to the raw material.

This enabled the aviation client to forecast and manage material requirements across their entire supply chain.

Our data & analytics allowed the client to proactively manage supply chain risk and ensure on-time delivery, insulate their end-to-end supply chain from volatile raw material costs and reduce raw material lead-times and speculation. With better data, their mills and distributors could anticipate demand and ensure the right materials were in stock. Business units, vendors and external stakeholders could also leverage common raw material and off-the-shelf component demand from multiple sites and sub-tier suppliers in order to drive efficiency. Finally, our solution provided reports on variances between orders forecasted, placed & shipped. This measure ensured raw materials were not the reason why parts were late.

About Exiger & Supply Dynamics

Recently acquired by Exiger, Supply Dynamics provides Fortune 500 manufacturers with real-time visibility and control over the material requirements of their extended supply chain. Supply Dynamics’ product, SDX, is a highly secure, multi-tier supply chain collaboration platform, designed for complex, distributed manufacturing supply chains. To learn more, read about Exiger’s recent acquisition of Supply Dynamics to Create the First End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility and Supplier Risk Management Solution here and learn more about our products here.