Page 54 - The European Business Review
P. 54
Supply Chain
next two decades, and currently, Boeing and Table 1. Traditional Titanium Supply Chain
Airbus have a record backlog of over 12,000
Step Company Description Purchasing Strategy
aircraft; 61-percent of the backlog consists of
Titanium Ore Average total heavy metal content is 5%,
high titanium content aircraft platforms, in addi- 1 Extractor meaning that 100 tons of raw material must
tion to substantial military needs. 7 be processed to extract 5 tons of titanium ore.
With many steps and players to coordinate, Material Converts titanium ore into sponge.
newly designed aerospace titanium parts typi- 2 Manufacturer Product
cally exhibit lead times of 55 to 75 weeks. In Specification
RUGHU WR DGGUHVV WKH VLJQLÀFDQW IXWXUH GHPDQG 3 Rolling Mill/Metal Converts sponge into bar stock or sheets.
Manufacturer
for titanium aircraft parts, NTi recognised that
the fundamental paradigm shift from “lean” to 4 Distributor Distributes bar stock and sheet materials.
“ultra-lean” required going beyond the produc-
Part Manufacturer Rough and finish machining of bar stock
WLRQ ÁRRU ,Q RUGHU WR DWWDLQ D FRPSHWLWLYH 5 into aerospace part. Part gets put into a
advantage with the additive method, NTi simul- sub-assembly. Active
taneously leveraged the value chain factors of (Sub-)Assembly Value added supplier adds finished part into Management /
Quality Assurance
connectedness, responsiveness and process. 6 higher order partial assembly.
7 End Customer Part gets assembled into airframe.
Connectedness
A proprietary process called Rapid Plasma
'HSRVLWLRQ 53' GHOLYHUV VLJQLÀFDQW
reductions in material costs, lead time, and manu- limitless whole system opportunities. Front-
facturing steps. To support RPD™, NTi also runners have already initiated a paradigm shift in
had to develop control systems and processes contract and reward structures. 8
that were capable of producing products for
aerospace applications, all of which are tied Responsiveness
together by a network of face-to-face and elec- Using additive manufacturing processes and
tronic networks that inform NTi which parts will heightened connectedness, the work for a single
PRVW EHQHÀW WKH FXVWRPHU LQ WHUPV RI SHUIRU- part can be done with unprecedented respon-
mance, cost reductions, and improvements to siveness. In the words of industry expert Ervest
lead times. One of the challenges with connect- Arvai who witnessed Norsk’s technology at the
9
edness is convincing customers to change their Farnborough air show : “Using titanium wire
mindset about part design and delivery. Additive WKH ÀUP FDQ EXLOG XS DQ\ SDUW RYHUQLJKW <HV
manufacturing encourages interactivity in overnight... This takes JIT to a new level.”
design, demanding imagination and engagement High responsiveness requires restructuring
by customers in order to net the full bene- the supply chain and information needs in
ÀWV RI FRQQHFWHGQHVV 0RVW VXSSO\ FRQWUDFWV order to serve customers value that they could
and relationships lack the incentive structure to never otherwise afford. Many aircraft parts have
encourage genuine solutions adapted to real- sporadic, unpredictable demand patterns, leading
time needs and value generation, instead relying to high holding costs for parts that may not be
on a priori VSHFLÀFDWLRQV DQG FRVW VDYLQJV 6PDUW required for years. A 4-6 week lead time (or less)
companies are moving past experimental proto- provides the option of replacing costly safety
type generation and into design thinking toward stocks of slow moving and hard-to-predict parts
with supply chain responsiveness; customers
Additive manufacturing encourages receive unprecedented customer service levels at
the same time they save tremendously on supply
interactivity in design, demanding imagination chain costs. This level of responsiveness also
and engagement by customers in order to facilitates new product innovation, particularly
important in the critical design review stage of
net the full benefits of connectedness. aircraft development.
54 The European Business Review January - February 2018
