Goodrich has grown quite dramatically since it took on its current form in 2001 through a long string of acquisitions that has seen it build up capability across 11 business units. The company now has three main business areas: commercial and general aviation original equipment commercial and general aviation aftermarket and defence and space.
As the US-based systems and services provider looks ahead with a bullish forecast for 2007, predicting an increase of as much as 9% in sales compared with 2006, to between $6.2 billion and $6.4 billion, a streamlined and efficient approach to its supply chain is more important than ever.
Dan Pleshko joined the company in 2005 as vice-president supply chain management to take on responsibility for the supply chain across the business. His promotion earlier this year to the newly created role of chief supply chain officer highlights the importance of supply-chain issues to the company. The company has not gone down the avenue of centralising its supply-chain activities. "The separate business units run themselves and their supply chains to optimise their business," says Pleshko, who adds, however, that a supply- chain council made up of 12 managers from across the business has been set up.
However, the company is taking advantage of the diverse history of the business and the strengths of its different divisions as it strives to introduce lean manufacturing and continuous improvement principles.
Procurement is not being centralised either, with the company preferring to maintain a higher degree of autonomy for its individual units than many other businesses that have built up their portfolios through numerous acquisitions. But duplications can be avoided in other areas "In areas where there is quite a bit of indirect spend - in non production areas - we will tend to centralise over time," Pleshko says.
Behind the scenes the new chief supply chain officer and his team are working to ensure that Goodrich strikes a balance between maintaining sufficient autonomy and taking advantage of economies of scale.
"We'll put a commodities team in place to manage the metals we buy," Pleshko says, adding: "We want a clear commodities management strategy." Several individual teams will work within a set framework and Goodrich plans a similar approach for its transport and energy spending.
Pleshko's particular focus is talent management, which he describes as "significant" for the performance of a business. His plan is to ensure that the company maintains its talent even in the face of an industry whose engineers are inching closer to retirement age every year.
"One of the things that became apparent was the very significant capability accounted for by ageing staff. If we don't have a plan for the capability and know-how of these people, they will retire and our employees will miss out on their experience," he explains.
The company is now developing a "talent management and assessment" tool with a view to ensuring that skills and know-how are transferred down the generations. "The vision for this is to make it less personal knowledge-oriented, and more of a deliberate process with development and assessment tools."
Making the most of existing assets through intelligent supply chain and talent management initiatives is not a quick-fix process, Pleshko insists: "If we do this right, there will never be an end to it - it's a continuous improvement process. The supply chain continues to evolve - 15 years ago no one even used the phrase."
Source: Flight International