The Society of British Aerospace Companies has marked an early milestone in its initiative to boost the competitiveness of the UK's aerospace and defence industrial base by improving the performance of its supply chain.
Launched in 2006 with the signatures of 19 company chief executives, the Supply Chains in the 21st Century (SC21) initiative was motivated by factors including the weakening value of the US dollar and the UK's formative Defence Industrial Strategy.
Now boasting 348 members, the scheme focuses on issues such as lean manufacturing, performance management and improved relations between prime contractors and the rest of the supply chain, and in particular with small and medium-sized enterprises, says SC21 chairman Russ Armitage.
"The UK has a great aerospace and defence industry, but if we lose the SMEs we won't have that," says Armitage (pictured below), who will promote the initiative at the Royal Aeronautical Society's annual conference in late April.
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The SC21 framework introduces a standardised set of measures that enable prime contractors to assess the capabilities of suppliers using bronze, silver and gold standards, and removes duplication in auditing procedures. Benefits for signatories include the ability to improve performance by looking at examples of best practice, and to attend taskforce sessions held every two months.
Membership is free to any company involved in the aerospace and defence industries, and added benefits come through its recognition by the UK Ministry of Defence, and European and US companies involved in Airbus's Power8 reform process (Airbus UK's Broughton site pictured below). The SBAC in February signed a memorandum of understanding on the latter effort, which it says "cuts down on bureaucracy for suppliers and demonstrates the confidence of several of the world's most successful aerospace manufacturers in the SC21 initiative".
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© Airbus UK |
"We are gathering momentum," says Armitage. "The target is for 500 members by year-end, but the real measure of success is: how many are doing improvement programmes?" Around 60% of current companies have already launched such work.
AWS Electronics joined the initiative in May 2007, and last week became the first member to receive a certification approval from the SBAC. Its silver award recognises a more than 95% delivery record to General Dynamics UK over a 12-month period. Around 20% of the company's £40 million ($78.8 million) annual turnover comes from the aerospace and defence sectors, where it specialises in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, cabling and harness assemblies.
"There needs to be an emphasis on continuous improvement to develop your business processes, identify and eliminate waste, and invest properly in people," says AWS chief executive Paul Deehan. "These initiatives help you get a framework to ensure those things are happening."
Membership has already generated internal savings and enabled AWS to measure its performance against its competitors, says director of business improvement Mike Berridge. "It does differentiate us from the rest of the pack, and we are getting recognition."
Launch partner Lockheed Martin UK is also convinced of the merits of the SC21 scheme, says director of trade development Nigel Strutt. As a systems integrator, the company relies on its supply chain for between 50% and 70% of a product's value, he says. "We saw the initiative as being absolutely complementary to activities that we had been undertaking. Any initiative that would improve performance was fundamental to the survival and longevity of our businesses."
Strutt says prime and first-tier contractors have previously contributed to duplication by imposing different quality measurement standards on suppliers, and concedes: "That frustrates the supply chain. We needed to create a broadly similar set of criteria that people can improve against. This is about getting everybody coming together for the best interests of the whole industry."
Lockheed divisions in the USA could soon begin to draw on SC21's relationship management lessons, says Strutt. "There is a lot of benefit in the international community for this kind of work, and recognition that the UK is leading the way."
Source: Flight International
