Is today’s supply base terminally ill?
Have you got a back-up plan?

Today’s aviation, aerospace & defense supply chain is sick and at one of the highest levels of risk observed in recent memory. Suppliers, OEMs, airlines and the DoD are under unprecedented pressure to recover from 2020 losses (operationally & financially) while future proofing themselves.

We’ve built a system rife with friction, inertia and sometimes contradicting terms, conditions, goals and incentives. With good and vital suppliers exiting and exposing strategic gaps, we’ve lost sight of some of the more important 21st century supply chain performance metrics.

This dysfunction is evident at all levels of the supply chain, including tier 1 and sub-tiers. We don’t believe this is a supplier problem per se (although many are specifically challenged); rather, it’s a set of OEM-supplier relationship management, collaboration (i.e. trust), integration, visibility and alignment challenges. First and foremost, these are business/contracts issues, with people/culture issues running a close second, and digital/technology issues a distant third.