Read G&P's latest feature in Aerospace Manufacturing magazine - It's all about readiness

G&P, a leading provider of total quality management services looks at how best to address aerospace sector quality manufacturing standards.

The aerospace industry is still facing significant headwinds in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. While there are green shoots in the short-haul aircraft market, the outlook for long-haul specialists is still tough. Clearly that has implications throughout the businesses of both aircraft OEMs and those throughout the supply chain, but now is the time for all organisations to reassess their quality management systems ahead of the predicted recovery.

The issue has been thrown under the spotlight with news that Boeing is bracing for 18 months of supply chain instability as it seeks to increase production. It is a major concern because the company uses a “very large, very fragmented” base of suppliers, according to Boeing chief executive officer, Dave Calhoun. He recognises that Boeing needs to work better with suppliers and help rebuild their workforces up to pre-pandemic levels.

“It’s skills, it’s talent, it’s experience, it’s people,” states Calhoun. The challenge can be summed up even more succinctly: it’s all about readiness.

It is a situation that G&P is very familiar with. Losing expertise from established teams, particularly quality service providers, is hugely problematic: the broad, non-partisan industry view was often lost from those businesses. It makes it hard to tool up universally following those Covid-enforced deep cuts because there will be bits of the puzzle missing. As production begins to ramp up further, manufacturing skills, quality and material planning are substantially reduced, which makes it hard to get the materials and the people to run the machines. But that’s just the first challenge.

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