A group representing specialist toolmakers says its members can boost their chances of winning business from large aerospace manufacturers by pooling their skills to make joint bids for contracts.
The UK's GTMA, which represents traditional metal-working firms, is offering to "project manage" any such contracts on its members' behalf. The 250-member association is the latest trade grouping to recognise that, as original equipment manufacturers (OEM) rationalise their supply chains to deal directly with fewer producers, small and medium enterprises (SME) struggle to promote themselves directly to those at the top of the chain.
The GTMA says its "aerospace network" will act as a "portal, developing relationships with OEMs and forwarding their requirements" to its members. It will help them combine their specialisms to jointly bid for work, says business development manager Alan Fairweather. The aerospace network will meet for the first time in April. Other UK associations representing aerospace SMEs, including the North West Aerospace Alliance, have formed similar initiatives.
* An "it will take as long as it takes" culture among design engineers has contributed to flagging efficiency and quality control in the aerospace supply chain, compared with the car industry, says a Rolls-Royce procurement executive. Lawrence Jenkins, the aeroengine manufacturer's supplier development operations director, told a seminar organised by GTMA that rates of "non-conformance" – where a defective component is shipped to the customer – are up to 10 times worse than in the automotive industry, where constant monitoring of quality has been a facet of the supply chain for years.
MURDO MORRISON WARWICK
Source: Flight International
