Airframe Procurement Equipment Procurement General Procurement Procurement Materials

Procurement is key to the identification, organisation and management of external resources (technical, commercial and industrial) to achieve competitive advantage. Depending on the circumstances, it may include some or all of the following: Identifying a need, specifying the requirements to fulfil the need, identifying potential suppliers, supplier development, constructing and reviewing business cases, soliciting bids and proposals, evaluating bids and proposals, commodity strategy, negotiation, awarding contracts or purchase orders, tracking progress and ensuring compliance, taking delivery, inspecting and inventorying the deliverable and paying the supplier. Entry Requirements: You will need to have a relevant Bachelors or Masters degree or equivalent. Relevant degree subjects include Economics, Business Studies, Business and Economics, Business and Law, International Business Economics and Law. Other non-related degrees may be considered. Applicants following CIPS programmes would be desirable.

Airframe Procurement

Airframe Procurement deals with the sourcing of suppliers, awarding of contracts and managing external supplier deliveries of standard components of the Airframe that Airbus UK control. All areas of Procurement work closely with a large number of different departments within Airbus UK and with other Airbus entities: The commercial team is consulted to establish contractual agreements to maximise the benefit to both the supplier and Airbus UK. Broughton planning and programmes are consulted to set and reflect supplier production rates and delivery dates. Different Airbus entities are consulted to meet overall programme requirements and delivery dates. The Manufacturing Engineering department is in contact with suppliers, particularly new suppliers, to manage questions, queries and concerns over techniques and approved manufacturing methods, as well as tooling, used by the supplier to meet Airbus UK standards. The Airframe Procurement teams deal with a large number of suppliers in different countries and travel to these suppliers is encouraged to build stronger relationships and to discuss issues and implement improvements. Planning, project management and personal time management are important factors to keep suppliers on schedule in order to meet delivery and programme requirements. Due to the nature of the assemblies being manufactured, all phases of the process from initial negotiation to final delivery are time consuming. Airbus focuses on three main indicators to monitor its suppliers and products - quality, cost and delivery. These factors are extremely important and so take time to consistently implement. Case Study - Matthew McMahon My first six months were spent in Filton as part of the Industrial Co-operation programme with two Chinese suppliers. I will spend the next three months with one of the suppliers in China. I was fortunate to join this project in its relative infancy and this has allowed me to be part of all aspects of the procurement process, with the different work packages. The more mature work packages required managing and monitoring, work packages in their early stages required detailed project management to make sure all aspects would be in place on time and to cost. Work packages that had just been awarded, required analysis and monitoring to make sure the supplier would be able to deliver according to the requirements. The project highlighted the importance of planning and organisation. A significant amount of time was spent planning and revising schedules for suppliers to meet. I reported directly to the Project Manager with delivery schedules and changes, holding weekly conference calls with the supplier and contributing to team meetings and discussions to improve the programme. I feel I have contributed to an exciting and important project and was pleased to be involved in such a project at an early stage with Airbus UK.

Equipment Procurement

Equipment Procurement covers the outsourcing of complete aircraft systems to suppliers. Airbus UK is responsible for the Fuel Systems, Landing Gear Systems and Structures. Integral to Equipment Procurement are quality, supply chain and development. Our primary function is to monitor supplier performance, invoices and demand, as well as to actively develop supplier improvement in terms of deliveries and rejections. Procurement is the main interface between Airbus and the supplier and the other Airbus stakeholders, such as, programmes, engineering, finance and estimating. It is responsible for approximately 80% of the Airbus cost base. This means working in close collaboration with senior management in the supply chain and the multifunctional teams across Airbus to achieve our top-level objectives. The department works with over 40 major suppliers worldwide; therefore travel is an intrinsic requirement. Continuous learning is very much encouraged including the completion of courses in negotiation, e-sourcing, SAP training and off-site team building, amongst others. We foster a team environment that is friendly, supportive and nurturing, with time dedicated to resolving any issues. This culture provides a good platform for progression within Airbus. Landing Gear Systems is an exciting and innovative part of the business with a team of around nine people, who are responsible for: Wheels, brakes and tyres Landing gear extension and retraction systems Braking and steering control systems Landing gear monitoring systems The specialised nature of the products and system deliverables, mean the market has a high entry barrier. The main focus of equipment procurement is strategic supplier relationship management and contract management, as a result, as with other areas of Procurement, travel is encouraged to visit suppliers, build and maintain relationships, negotiate contracts' also for product awareness, product support, factory and capability viewing/research, etc. Case Study - Jamil Khalil Much of the initial six months of my placement have been spent as a project co-ordinator primarily responsible for two projects. It was challenging and very exciting as I had responsibility for planning, leading and executing the projects from the procurement end. This gave me exposure to the pressures, challenges and constraints faced within this dynamic industry. The two projects were e-Invoicing across all programmes and a Braking and Steering Control software development (BSCU S3C) for the Long Range A340-600 fleet. The Breaking and Steering Control software development project involved working with a multi-functional team based with our supplier and with Airbus. There were very tight project timescales, mainly influenced by the flight-testing and the fact that the software was to be incorporated by a target date. My contract change management role gave me a broad range of experience evaluating and managing the incorporation of the software into the supplier's A340-600 contract, including the scope of change, agreement of statement of work, evaluation of the commercial proposal with the Estimating department, target setting, negotiation planning and negotiation with the Supplier, etc.

General Procurement

General Procurement, despite its name, is far from general! It covers the procurement of all non-production products and services required by numerous internal customers, such as, engineering, programmes and facilities. General Procurement is split as follows: Capital Equipment and Services - buildings, jigs, tooling and machinery Enterprise Consumables and Services - corporate services, travel, non-value-added consumables, facilities management systems, training and non-technical human resource IT/Telecoms - telecommunication systems, audio/visual conferencing, software, hardware, networks and technical resource. Product-Related Services - design-outsourcing, technical human resource, research and testing. Much of the activity in general procurement concentrates on developing strategic relationships with suppliers and implementing commodity strategies to complement Airbus' corporate strategy targets. Case Study - Richard White In my initial placement I was given the task of designing and implementing a tool that aimed to allow procurement management, to plan the allocation of resources to 'handle' the volume of work packages for the A350 capital equipment and services commodity. The project enabled me to understand how Procurement worked and to meet key personnel in the business. The tool has also made a significant difference to the Capital team who now have better visibility of outstanding customer requirements, which has meant they can better support their internal customers and add more value to the procurement processes. My first 3-month placement was in Research & Technology management at Filton and I am currently working in Hamburg on the A380 Electrical Plateau as an apprentice Field Engineer applying lean principles and tools to the electrical design process. Looking to the future, I hope to do an external placement with one of our suppliers, as well as a placement in one of the production procurement areas.

Procurement Materials

Materials Procurement purchases all raw materials for the wing manufacturing at Airbus UK. The Metals section is managed on an international scale to meet the required demand; there is, therefore, a great deal of interaction with buyers in France and Germany to guarantee each part of Airbus has sufficient metal at the best price. The Operations team places orders with suppliers and works to guarantee timely delivery into the Airbus UK manufacturing sites. The team will also seek to resolve any problems that may arise, such as, late deliveries, poor quality material, etc. The Quality and Supply Chain team is involved in the procurement process from stage one. They make sure new suppliers can manufacture to the required quality standards and have the available resources to deliver the quantities demanded. Once suppliers are onboard, the team will report on the delivery and quality performance, as well as solve any problems that may arise. They also represent procurement when suppliers make any ad-hoc changes to designs and approval is required. The New Product Introduction team is currently working on A380 and A400M projects to make sure design engineers and production lines have all the metals needed to carry out testing, prototyping and first production aircraft. Within the same department, there are teams who cover the purchasing of composite materials, which are becoming more and more widespread on the aircraft build. Case Study - Fergus Houlden Risk management is a very important part of Procurement, to guarantee a reliable supply chain. I worked, together with another DEG, on a set of guidelines and tools to clarify the reporting and management of risks both to Airbus and suppliers. This project involved many stakeholders from within the department in the UK and our other entities in France and Germany. Influencing skills were essential for selling the process to our end users for everyday use; moreover the project has provided an excellent opportunity to work with numerous colleagues in the UK and abroad. The process has now been in operation for three months and has received approval from the CAA. The main thing I have learned is the need to understand what is involved in getting approval and sign-off for projects. Projects can take some time to develop because of the number of stakeholders involved in getting a general consensus and agreement. It has been a real learning curve, but very rewarding.