Why You’re A Babysitter More Than A Purchasing Professional

When you were younger did you ever watch over your younger siblings while your parents were gone? Or maybe it was the neighbors child, or a family friend.

Babysitting is about micromanaging children's every move. When they cry you try to calm them down, when they are hungry you feed them, when they leave your sight you follow them, when they don’t answer you talk louder. It’s about staying on top of them to make sure they’re okay and doing the right thing.

Dealing with 95% of all MROs and aircraft component partners is like taking on a full time babysitting job. One that you didn’t sign up for.

The brutal facts of babysitting

By now you’re probably imagining suppliers wearing diapers and crying like babies, well some of them do cry a lot, but that’s not it.

When you work with various MROs and aircraft components suppliers you have to babysit their every move. Did they ship? Why aren’t they responding? They didn’t send me an update, I must follow-up. It even gets worse when suppliers promise the world before the order, and fail to follow through on their promise. They care more about the money than the relationship.

This is what I like to call the babysitting syndrome. The more vendors you work with, the more babysitting you’ll have to do. It’s just how it is. You’ll have more RFQs to send and process, more POs to cut, more orders to follow-up on, more issues to deal with, more phone calls and emails to make, and more excuses to hear.

Some Purchasing Departments I talk with are like a full time day care. They have to babysit way too many people. This is not efficient and order follow-ups fail because there’s too much to focus on.

Efficiency isn’t in how many suppliers you deal with, it’s when you hit a point where you rely on less support that generates the most gains.

Focus on efficiency and fire yourself as a babysitter

Nobody wants to babysit their suppliers through the purchasing process. It’s a terrible waste of your time.

If you have ever talked to me for very long you’ll know that I speak fast, but I’m also incredibly dedicated and fascinated with efficiency. You know the whole concept. Why do something in 10 hours when it can be done in 2? For me efficiency is easy to manage, but when you involve various people and moving components, it gets difficult.

It’s important you put trust into a partner who you know is dedicated to building long term relationships. Relationships built on trust and efficiency are crucial. This concept alone is worth a million dollars. Pay me later? No? Okay!

It’s amazing how large amounts of time and money are wasted with inefficient solutions. We’re talking billions baby!

When you deal with unqualified and unproductive companies, you’re babysitting role gets worse. Isn’t that true? Don’t you feel like a babysitter 90% of the time when you deal with these folks?

The first thing you need to do is walk into the nearest bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, “Why have I become a babysitter?” Really think hard about this. After you’ve come up with your reason, write it down and tell yourself you are no longer going to babysit your aircraft maintenance partners and suppliers. That’s it, it’s final and you’re making a change.

Then go back to your desk and pick your top partners, or who you think could be a top partner. These are people you rarely have to babysit. You trust and respect them. If you prefer something to be done in a certain way communicate your needs so they can help create an efficient solution. Communication is crucial.

The benefit of this simple concept is when you focus on building relationships with people whom you trust, you’ll babysit less and become more efficient.

P.S. We have a babysit free zone, especially when you have a request for 25+ parts that you need to order. We are experts in supporting both maintenance checklists and routine long lists. If you’re interested in how we can support your list requirements enter your details below.

Your $500 Aircraft Component Shipping Mistake Costs You More Than You Think

You experience $500 shipping mistakes every day.

It’s not a large sum of money but when you multiply $500 by the amount of shipments you have, WOW! The amount of money wasted on shipping is crazy. Ludicrous I tell you.

Whether it’s from Singapore, Rio De Janeiro, Amman, or London, when you order 20 parts from 20 different companies you pay 20 different freight bills. It’s as simple as that, no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. Pure logic. Pure expense. Pure waste.

There’s no revolutionary formula and my future isn’t as a math teacher but I do know we often forget about the true costs of our decisions.

Think about it.

At a minimum you’ll spend $100 for each shipment. But let’s dig a little deeper and say the maximum you would spend is $500. Not a huge freight bill. The problems occur with volume. It’s the power of compounding. If you order 20 parts from 20 different sources you’re spending $2,000 - $10,000 in freight bills.

Expensive indeed! The decisions you make about shipping directly affect your operating income. Most decisions are made in a reactive state, but the true value is through a proactive solution.

Let’s dig into that.

Spending 20X more than you have to on shipping

The middle of your supply chain is complicated. With aircraft component partners located all over the world and your aircraft MRO 2,000km north or south, your supply chain is worldwide. There’s a lot of variables between the aircraft components you need and the aircraft they must be installed on.

There’s also many decisions to be made. Who do I procure from? Are they a reliable and trusted partner? Do I need 1 part or 50? How should I ship these? Should I consolidate? When will I need these rotables and consumables at my maintenance check?

The questions don’t stop. In order for you to reduce your operating expenditure, you have to think about strategic ways to cut unnecessary costs.

Yes, you could beat up your aircraft component supplier on price, but over time that only gets you cheap parts, cheap service, and more problems.

The true value comes from the proactive solutions I keep mentioning. One of these is being more thoughtful of your shipping costs.

Shipping costs are eating away at your operating budget

This week we had a very good client get into a frenzy about a $5,000 shipping charge. She was shipping 1,200 kilos through a terrible freight forwarder. Remember I mentioned cheap service? I mean, these people were beyond ridiculous. And they were sneaky, which is even worse.One of the items was  HAZMAT. This silly freight forwarder was charging the entire 1,200 kilos as HAZMAT and it affected the freight bill by $1,000. So our client  was essentially paying $1,000 more than she had to.

The moral of the story is, the decisions you make on how you ship affects everything.

In this story it’s about trusting your freight forwarder partner to not price gouge you after they quote you a low freight cost. In other scenarios it’s about making a conscious effort to consolidate and save.

You’ll go from shipping 20 items from 20 different people with 20 different freight invoices, to 20 items from 1 person with 1 freight invoice. It’s streamlined and focused. It get’s even better if you deeply trust and respect this one person. Trust goes a long way.

Once you decide to $ave By Consolidating and focus on an efficient procurement strategy, you’ll begin to save thousands of dollars on wasted freight costs.

P.S. Our Aircraft Maintenance Program is designed by experts in creating efficient solutions for long list requirements. We utilize our $ave By Consolidating process to provide you with rotables, expendables, and consumables, in an efficient and cost effective manner. We also utilize our logistics program to streamline the entire supply chain to you. Interested? Fill out the form below.

9 Truths You Don’t Want To Hear About When Working A Long List RFQ

Working long requirement lists is difficult. You’re in charge of getting prices and availability and the pressure is on.

At a very basic level you send an RFQ to a predetermined list of people. But on a more complex level you send out the RFQ, input the quotes, determine best options, weigh all best case scenarios, cut POs, babysit suppliers, organize various shipments, resolve issues, track AWBs, work with freight forwarders to ensure no delays, and the task list goes on and on.

In fact sending out RFQs is easy. It’s the coordination of who and when to purchase from that’s stressful.

You make it more complex than necessary. Not because you don’t know what you’re doing, but you’ve just been doing it for so many years. You’ve built a habit.

Why processing a long aircraft maintenance RFQ has you stressed

When processing a long RFQ list the stress you feel is determined on the type of planning you do. There are two ways you can go about it.

One, you can send your requirement as a mass blind copy email to everyone you know. The problem is you’ll get a flood of quotes back and begin to experience data overwhelm.

Two, you can send an email to your top, trusted partner. In a streamlined fashion they’ll quote your long aircraft maintenance list and the best case scenario and worst case scenario for lead times. They’ll also help you consolidate and save money in various areas of the distribution and maintenance process. This decision will give you more time to focus on your actual aircraft maintenance and take a substantial amount of burden off your chest.

Those are your two options.

If you decide on option one, here are 9 honest truths you must live with:

1. You’ll spend more money on freight cost. Factor in 2% of total cost per part for freight if you procure from multiple source. When you streamline your procurement activities and consolidate with a trusted partner the cost will be driven down to .5% - 1% of the total cost of your order.
2. Prepare to resolve issues. The more you spread your purchasing activities the more issues that will arise. It’s when you reduce your supplier count that will help mitigate issues occurring. Your partner should try to resolve any issues that occur prior to you even knowing. This keeps things moving and reduces stress.
3. You’ll become a full time supplier babysitter. The more suppliers you work with the more time and money you’ll spend babysitting them. From having to call for order updates to getting AWBs, there’s a ton of activities to keep them “honest.”
4. You’ll spend more of your time processing orders. The more POs you cut to various sources the more you have to process both on the purchasing side and on the receiving side. This takes time and draws your attention away from other activities.
5. You’ll get headaches more often. Have you ever heard a supplier try to make excuses of why something is delayed or why they have to cancel? It makes your head throb and the more suppliers you deal with the more you’ll hear the petty excuses.
6. You’ll have to organize all of the individual quotes coming in from multiple suppliers, instead of having one long quote from a trusted partner.
7. Most suppliers only want to deal with rotables (not us!), so you’ll have to worry about meeting PO minimums for expendables and consumables. Don’t forget to tac on freight cost in addition to these items.
8. You’ll still have to worry about all of your consumable and expendable needs. These are the inglorious parts but when you add them into consolidations you save tons of money. It’s our little secret, we love consumables and expendables!
9. When you process RFQs and orders without a plan your anxiety and stress levels skyrocket.

It all comes down to being efficient. How can you save the most time and money and get your requirements when and as needed?

If this means consolidating your order with one supplier, then do it.  It will make your aviation life much easier.

Remember, you want to utilize proactive solutions in a highly reactive industry.

P.S. We quote thousands of parts every week to our airline partners. We have it down to a science. We not only quote the material, we deliver it through our $ave By Consolidating initiative. A lot of the times it’s through our maintenance check program. Interested? Fill out the form below….

How To Get Efficient Support For A 50+ Aircraft Part RFQ List

Has your maintenance and engineering team ever sent you a 50 part requisition list? Of course they have.

These long lists are daunting. You have to review the list, send out RFQs, and then eventually cut POs. It get’s even worse when you try to manage all the POs you’ve cut, making sure the aircraft parts get to you on time and on budget (not just the PO price but the overall cost of the order).

It’s time consuming and stressful.

You start by sending your long aircraft part list to 20+ suppliers. In reality, it makes sense. You test the market and see who has the best price and send POs from there. Right?

No, wrong.

This is inefficient and counterproductive. Sending out the email is the easy part. What happens when you start processing RFQs and sending POs?

Are you going to send POs to 20 different suppliers? If so, your costs now have doubled once you factor in processing and transit costs.

This mindset gets expensive. Sit back and think about it. Really dig deep on all of the cost associated with cutting so many POs.

What if there was a better way? What if you cut 1 PO and saved thousands of dollars on freight and time, and nothing else changed (i.e. delivery time, quality, etc.)?

It’s possible…

Streamline your RFQ process

In an industry where time is money, creating strategies to expedite operational processes is integral to any airlines success.

What if you could send a 50 part list, have it quoted by one supplier in 5 days, and at your facility in another 5 days? Imagine the cost savings associated with this streamlined focus.

Instead of sending out mass emails (I know, I know, this is tough since it’s a way to price market) send out several RFQs to your top suppliers. If they're your top supplier, they’ll be able to support 90% of your RFQ list.

Once you have your quote, you process the order. We like to call this “$ave By Consolidating.” It’s as simple as that.

When you mass email, you receive hundreds of quotes and no quotes that you have to process. Who has the best price, who’s approved, where is it shipping from, who has what, and when can they get it to us? It get’s chaotic fast.

When you process long lists through one trusted supplier you benefit from efficient communication and price conscious consolidations.

Meet my 1 list aircraft part RFQ strategy & it starts with trust

This is the time when you put your trust into an honest partner.

If they haven’t or can’t prove they’ve supported such a long list requirement, I caution you now. Quoting is the easy part. It’s the coordination of having stock availability and close ties with OEM networks and MROs to getting your material on time and on budget.

It’s not your responsibility to play babysitter to 50 suppliers. It’s your responsibility to keep your aircraft in the air, reducing downtime, and increasing up-time.

When a 50 part requirement comes across your desk, do the following:

1. Send this 50 part list to a trusted partner.
2. Have them quote it in a timely manner, typically 3 - 5 days for a 50 part list.
3. Review the quote and notice the lead times. The majority of the spares should ship within 3 - 10 business days depending on the requirement. More rotables might extend lead times if they have to get repaired. But communication is key so tell them your exact requirements.
4. Cut 95% - 100% of the RFQ list to one trusted partner and let them work their magic.
5. Upon completion review how they communicated through this process.

Once you receive your material, review their performance. If there was minimal errors and they were super responsive, you found your trusted long list preferred partner.

P.S. We work hundreds of long lists every week and often times they’re apart of our maintenance check program. We are no strangers in coordinating our $ave by consolidating mindset and supporting airlines with 20 - 160 component shipments. We can prove it. Send your list today and start by filling out the below form.

A Successful A-O-G In 1-2-3

You’ve heard it from hundreds of companies, “we have a 24/7/365 AOG service.”

It’s like throwing rocks into an ocean. Some rocks sink faster than others, and the same is true with the hundreds of 24/7 AOG service claims.

Some use the term for marketing purposes, while others have an exclusive AOG service for stock items (that’s the goal right?).

95% of all AOG services are reactive solutions. A true airline AOG service isn’t just about getting you a single aircraft component in the shortest amount of time.  It’s about much more than that. A sound AOG service focuses it's attention on preventative strategies. The true magic happens when partners (airline + component distributor) sit down and discuss proactive solutions.

Aircraft maintenance will always have it’s bouts of reactive issues, but it’s beating these issues down on the front end…before they become an AOG problem.

It’s about stopping the AOGs before they ever become an actual AOG.

Create an AOG list

Some airlines have reoccurring AOGs for the same product line, which is where safety stock plays an integral role. Others experience component failures along a statistical spread based on mean times between failures (MTBF) and mean time between removals (MTBR).

Some airlines experience AOGs for just rotables, while others experience AOGs for rotables, consumables, and expendables.

So what does this mean for you?

You’ve worked on your MEL no-go list, but every airline operation is unique. From a fleet flying around the sandy Saharan desert, to fleets flying through the blistering cold of the Alaskan frontier, every operation is different.

In order to combat your onslaught of AOGs without having to invest millions in safety stock and life limited consumables, first create your high usage AOG list.

• Rotables: Create a list of your high removal rate, no-go rotables. Of course don’t just leave it at this. If you have certain product lines that have reoccurring unplanned removals, add them to this list. This list is your rotable AOG strategy playbook. You add and remove components to this list as needed. This is your baseline analytical forecasts. They get much more complicated than this but this is a start.
• Expendable: The next tier of AOG prevention is building your high usage expendable list. When you know what expendables are consumed most frequently or are needed  most often, prepare your list.
• Consumables: The same is true for your consumable list. Create a high usage consumable list.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Now that you’ve created a list of no-go and high usage items, you move on to the next step…

Having rotables, expendables & consumables at the right time, in the right place

Minimizing your AOG is having the right part, at the right time, in the right place…without drastically increasing you’re operating expenditure. Having inventory suck away your available cash (more on that below) is a disaster waiting to happen.

The next step is to logically think of your logistical and procurement plan. Buying material on an AOG basis is making you reactive which is unproductive. You have to plan solutions on the front end.

Here are some ideas that can be applied to the 3 lists you created in the previous section:

• Invest heavy amounts of cash for keeping your safety stock replenished (not my preferred recommendation)
• Use a pooling or PBH program so you pay for performance and limit your capital risk on inventory.
• Work with your supplier to replenish the lists you created every X (x days, x months, x quarters, etc) or based on a consumption forecast you worked on together.
• Have your supplier stock high usage material near your facility for easy access. Pay for material only as you consume it.
• Send your component partner the 3 lists you created and have them keep stock on hand.
• Have your partner create a logistical strategy to your facility. If transit time is an issue, have them propose a solution.
• Consolidate monthly reoccurring purchases to your facility, reducing expenditure and increasing material delivery.
• Have your component partner stock high-usage, high AOG probability parts at your facility. Pay for access, pay for usage.

As you can see, the strategies are limitless and they  surround your need to reduce AOGs and inventory expenditure. Your component partner is an expert (Skylink being one these of course) who will help you create these strategies.

Reducing the financial burden of preventative AOG strategies

Forget the statistics of spending $1.5M per aircraft in inventory. You make money in the air. Inventory is on the ground. Your goal is to be efficient not only with your fleet but also with your cash.

There are component distributors who specialize in inventory, that’s what they do. For you not to take advantage of this puts you at a financial disadvantage. Take JetBlue for example. They outsource everything, and are a profitable airline because of it. They’ve reduced their overhead and focused on core, money-making activities.

The same is true for you.

Come up with your 3 lists and work with your trusted partner to devise a strategy where they support your every rotable, expendable and consumable need.

It can be much easier than having to constantly react to AOGs. Be proactive and beat your AOGs on the front end.

P.S. We’ve come up with airline support strategies for all of our airline clients. Are you having an increase in AOGs? Do you want to be more proactive in your component support? Do you want to spend less money on inventory and AOG processing? Do you want more cash to support your operation? If yes, fill out the below form and let’s get started TODAY.

27 Ways To Prepare For An Aircraft On Ground (AOG)

When you hear the 3 letters, A-O-G, it makes you cringe.

Your heart rate pumps at high speeds and the frantic, I-have-to-fix-this-now mindset begins.

I agree it’s stressful, but if you'rE prepared before the AOG, it’ll make your aviation life  much easier.

That’s why I compiled this simple, yet effective list so you are prepared going into an AOG battle.

1. Have your top rotable, consumable, and expendable partner on speed dial.
2. Review a list of your past AOGs and build a theme around reoccurring part numbers.
3. Have a partner stock their inventory with your AOG components so you don’t have to.
4. Constantly review your logistical network from your top partners.
5. Delegate certain responsibilities so you can focus on the big issue.
6. Give yourself no more than 30 minutes to procure the AOG component so you can avoid unnecessary delays of indecisiveness.
7. Use a freight forwarder who knows what an AOG means.
8. Your freight forwarder should have a large route network.
9. Calculate your opportunity cost based on various options.
10. Consolidate mutliple line items to mitigate risk.
11. Keep in close contact with your top supplier so they are up to date with your operation.
12. Talk with your supplier, 24/7 via email, phone, or Skype.
13. Have face to face meetings with your top supplier so trust is continually built.
14. Prepare multiple contingencies for every AOG solution.
15. Take 10 deep breaths before making a decision.
16. Automate your AOG procurement process.
17. Reduce mass emails as this adds a level of complexity you may not see.
18. Reduce mass emails as an airline with an AOG increases market 15% - 25%.
19. Take advantage of a pooling program so you invest more on operations and less on stock.
20. Forecast your high usage consumables and utilize an On-Demand & Just In Time service so you have the items as you need them without over investing in inventory.
21. Have weekly meetings with your partners so they’re always on the same level as you.
22. Use partners that you feel are like your own internal employees.
23. Review your mean time between event (MTBE), mean time between removal (MTBR), mean time between unscheduled removal (MTBUR=MTBU), mean time between failure (MTBF) regularly.
24. Use the Pareto Analysis to pinpoint repeat issues with the biggest impact and solve them.
25. Your freight forwarder should be available 24/7.
26. Utilize GPS tracking for your high value AOG freight for piece of mind.
27. Build a friendship with your dedicated account manager.

As you can see there are  many ways to prepare for an AOG. Often times people over complicate this process and engineer complex systems that are not able to accommodate an AOG as it’s happening.

They do a great job analyzing and forecasting potential problems, but once an AOG occurs, it just needs to be resolved…by a human, using close relationships with key partners.

It’s as simple as that.

Do you take advantage of any of these AOG suggestions?

P.S. We have an AOG program that utilizes distribution networks and logistical partners all over the world. Interested? Contact your dedicated account manager here.

Dealing With AOGs & Eliminating The Stress Induced Trauma

AOGs (Aircraft On Ground) are no fun?

It’s the 3 letters that keep you up at night. It’s the 3 letters that make your hands sweat and your heart race. It’s the 3 letters you hope to never hear again.

AOGs are apart of our commercial aviation world. There’s no hiding from them.

You can accept them, deal with them, and minimize them, but you’ll never eliminate them.

Money Is Lost Every Second

No matter if it's an AOG now, or an AOG 7 days from now, time is money.

When an AOG occurs, you spend thousands of dollars in lost revenue and spend hefty fees to resolve the nagging problem. You become vulnerable. Many suppliers smell the AOG desperation from a mile away. And don’t forget about your freight forwarder. They’ll happily accept your 1 day transport request at a rate 200%+ more than routine freight.

This is why you get so stressed.

There’s a lot of money at stake and for you to get it right is imperative. The cold hard truth is things don’t always go according to plan. 

You resolve the problem but then your supplier cancels or your order get’s stuck in customs. Whatever it is there’s hundreds of potential variables that could delay you getting what you need. 

Resolve Your Stress Before You Resolve The Chaos

I have seen so many mistakes made in a stressful state. 

Just this week we shipped 5 parts for an AOG order to one of our partners, but under his stressful state he AOG shipped the wrong order and forgot to process the right AOG order. A silly mistake with incredible consequences. 

He was so stressed that he completely overlooked what was necessary for him to do. This is why work related stress training is so incredibly important. It’s imperative you manage your stress before you manage your AOG. 

If you read this blog often you’ll know I talk about managing stress a lot. Stress in aviation is costly. Being able to think clearly and make quick decisions is paramount to you and your fleets success.

Here are a few quick tips to control your stress on the spot, anywhere:

• Take a 4 second deep breath, hold for 8 seconds and exhale for 16 seconds. Repeat this 5 times and only pay attention to your breath.
• Close your eyes and smile. Think about something that makes you laugh or someone you love. This may sound silly, but trust me the psychology behind it works.
• Go outside, preferably where there is trees and fresh air, and be grateful to be alive.
• Do a quick 10 minute office workout.

Once you get your heart rate back into a normal state (your heart rate increases the more stressed you are) the better you’ll be able to handle the AOG situation that’s in front of you. You’ll make better decisions, you’ll rely on trusted partners, and you’ll avoid falling for tricks and false promises.

The Top Tip To Deal With An Aircraft On Ground Situation

You’ve heard it all. Quite possibly some of it came from us or here on this blog. Stock more, stock less, tap into a pooling agreement, lease your inventory, pool your safety stock, relay on a Just In Time strategy, whatever it is…you’ll continue to have AOGs.

The best tip to resolve this is simple but often times so overlooked. Work with a partner that creates a “wow” experience for you…99% of the time. I know this sounds way to easy but it makes a huge difference. When you feel like your supplier is a direct subset of your operation, you know the relationship is beneficial.

They help you resolve the problem night or day. They’ll solve it directly or find some way to come up with a solution, either way you benefit from a “wow” relationship and trusted support. You don’t have to do it all on your own.

All too often I see airlines fall victim to false promises and when they realize it, it’s too late. They've wasted time and money.

Lean on someone you trust and that creates a “wow” experience for you. Trust me on this, it makes all the difference in the world. Plus, it's more fun working with someone like this anyway.

P.S. We deal with AOGs every day. Send me an email here and tell me what your AOG problems are. We’ll then begin to help you reduce your stress, resolve your AOGs, and create the “wow” experience you deserve.

The Stress Free Benefits Of On-Demand Expendables

Think about all of the aircraft expendables you've bought? Is it hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands? More than likely it’s hundreds of thousands.

You've labored over cutting POs, making sure the part number was right, and ensuring you have the right condition, without overspending. Do you need OEM certs? Can you take NS? The demands go on and on.

With every order you waste time thinking about shelf life, overstocking / under stocking, and not having enough when you need it. You know, the dreary old AOG for a $500 bolt. You go mad just thinking about it.

Aircraft expendable procurement has become all to complicated. You stress for what should be stress free situations.

Making things easier is your operational priority, right?

Keeping your fleet in the air generates profit, fumbling over various expendable procurement activities is tedious, time-consuming, and expensive.

The Benefits of On-Demand Consumption

Simplifying processes is key…

It reduces your cost, frees your time to focus on core activities, and reduces errors.

In a world that allows you to get what you want, when you want it, it makes your life easier to plan and coordinate larger procurement activities.

Heck, it may even give you more time to plan and negotiate aircraft acquisitions.

On-demand expendables allows you to stock less with a higher level of service. You know exactly what you have available, when it can be at your facility, all without the messy overhead expenses that inventories create.

You have complete transparency into what's incoming, what's on the shelf, how much you’ll use next month, but you do very little of the work.

With On-Demand expendables you simply consume the material.

Your partner helps structure the forecasting, ensures they have enough safety stock to avoid AOGs, and plans your future inventory needs.

All you do, is sit back and relax.

Simplify Your Aircraft Expendable Procurement

Simplifying your expendable procurement can reduce non-scheduled AOGs by 25% and reduce operational spending by at least 15%.

It all goes back to the basics.

You’ll need to do 4 things to get started.

1. Decide what partner you trust. Yes, trust is a huge part in developing this plan. Think about who creates a “WOW” experience for you. 
2. Run a simple 24 month report on your expendable consumption and share it with your partner.
3. Come up with a short list of 5 operational issues you’re looking to resolve.
4. Your partner will then propose 2 different solutions via video conference call.

Aircraft expendable procurement automation can resolve various aspects of operational inefficiencies. I know, I know, you love control, but this allows you to control more aspects of your organization.

Just think about it, if you never had to procure or stock an expendable again and could have what you needed, when you needed, what would that do for your operation?

P.S. We have an On-Demand and Just In Time program that can eliminate all of your stocking and expendable procurement hassles. For more information about these programs fill out the contact form below!

Expendable Automation: 6 months, 500 parts, 0 delays

Do you ever wonder how you can make aircraft consumable and expendable consumption easier? Or even automated?

No matter the price, no matter the size, no matter how many you need, even a small expendable can cause you to have an Aircraft on Ground (AOG). 

These are 3 words every procurement professional never wants to hear. These words raise your blood pressure, make you sweat, and keep you up at night.

AOGs are costly occurrences that thousands of airlines experience due to consumable and expendable problems. It’s often caused by the component being out of stock, but it doesn’t stop there.

These little things can cause AOGs because of capital costs / obsolescence, logistics, or even from a failed purchasing plan. 

How often does one of these create issues for you? Think about it. Once, twice, twenty times a week?

Now think of all the time and money you spend fixing these problems.  It gets messy fast.

It doesn’t have to be all that bad and is incredibly simple if the right strategies are applied.

Automating your expendable and consumable consumption

I’m a huge advocate of automating certain aspects of my life.

From social media posts and blog creation, to business development and automated ERP processes, automation can be found everywhere.

And most importantly, automation is handled by people who have a greater knowledge of certain activities. Or the opportunity cost for them to do a certain task is far cheaper than what you can do it for.

A good example is the company who cleans your office. The opportunity cost is much cheaper for them to do it instead of you. Make sense?

The same goes for automating your consumable and expendable consumption.

It’s as simple as 1, 2, and 3.

1. Identify high usage components and / or components you use every year.
2. Send this list to your consumable management partner
3. They ship these items to you on a forecasted monthly consumption rate (JIT) or they keep them in stock for On-Demand delivery.

The benefit of automating is you get On-Demand component reliability through continuous replenishment. This significantly reduces your costs of AOGs, procurement, shipping, stocking components, and out of stock scenarios.

Through automation you get aircraft consumables and expendables when you need them, where you need them, and how you need them. Direct, automated shipments can be used for one maintenance hub or 15. It doesn't matter as the program automation is designed for your unique operation.

Think about it, how will automating reduce your costs and increase your reliability?

P.S. We  structure our consumable automation program around you. For more information on how we can support your needs through this program, simply fill out the contact form below!

A Romantic Story Of Just In Time Inventory & Decision Making Fatigue

Face it. You dislike fumbling around with aircraft expendables just as much as I like making my bed.

Both are messy.

I’m a terrible bed maker. My corners are never crisp, my pillow is never fluffed and my side is always sloppy. Just ask my wife. Okay, maybe don’t ask her.

Although I’m sloppy at making my bed, being sloppy and unorganized with expendable procurement is much more costly.

I see it time and time again. Partners who procure the same seal, over and over, each time with a greater urgency. They spend thousands of dollars for a measly $300 seal.

It happens far too often. We quote a seal 3 days prior, the quote becomes urgent on day 2, the PO is placed on day 3, and now you’re in an AOG situation.

For a seal (or insert another high usage expendable or consumable)…

We can blame it all on the maintenance crew all day long, but the real problem is in the planning and decision making. 

With so many decisions being made by you, it gets overwhelming and daunting.

Everyday you make last minute decisions to avoid AOGs. It’s common and your not alone.

Decision making fatigue, it’s a real thing

Would you believe me if I told you that you only have so much energy to make a certain amount of decisions in a given day?

Willpower is like a muscle. You can only stress it out so much before it gets fatigued and tired. Each time you make a decision you deplete your willpower fuel tank. Your willpower fades with the more decisions you have to make.

Should you ship it this way, should you call this person, how are you to resolve this problem? Do these questions sound familiar? 

Every time you answer these, you're zapping your willpower reserves. When your willpower is fading and your brain is tired of making decisions, it’s easier to make irrational decisions.

In a 2008 American Psychological Association journal their “…present findings suggest that self-regulation, active initiative, and effortful choosing draw on the same psychological resource. Making decisions depletes that resource, thereby weakening the subsequent capacity for self-control and active initiative. The impairment of self-control was shown on a variety of tasks, including physical stamina and pain tolerance, persistence in the face of failure, and quality and quantity of numerical calculations. It also led to greater passivity.”

Think without thinking and make better decisions by making less

What are you to do? Well that’s simple, make less decisions.

By creating a strategy where you can make less decisions and still  guarantee expendable delivery is a no-brainer. You simply automate the procurement process.

A Just In Time Inventory program does most of the heavy lifting for you.

You determine what high usage expendables you use over a 12+ month period and every month a predetermined amount is delivered to you on time. You eliminate the decisions to decide who to send the Purchase Orders to, how and where to ship, when to track your material and call your supplier and how to follow-up with orders.

Your material shows up when and as needed, no more fumbling around with administration tasks and excessive decision making. 

By automating your high usage expandable procurement you’ll cut your decision making fatigue down and make better decisions on higher value projects.

You’ll also reduce your freight costs, reduce your inventory levels, minimize AOGs, guaranteed fixed pricing and availability and significantly reduce administrative tasks.

So remember this, in order to reduce decision making fatigue, make less decisions and automate your expendable procurement process.

P.S. Our Just In Time Inventory saves  thousands of hours every year for relative administrative decisions, click here to request how it can work for you.