Airbus

Adept At Managing Complexities Of Extensive Outsourcing, Supply Chain

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For Airbus, the world leader in aircraft manufacturing, partners and suppliers are part of an extended family. They play a crucial role in its common business success. With 12,000 suppliers, Airbus outsources about 80 percent of the products and services for flying and non-flying parts, equal to over two-thirds of its turnover. Having an overall sourcing volume of €49.6 billion, for Airbus global sourcing is one of its long-term objectives. It will be 40 percent outside Western Europe and the US by 2020. The company looks for partners who are ahead of the game and are able to offer creative, innovative and digital solutions even in a complex environment.

Suppliers for direct procurement are grouped under such various commodities for flying parts as Aero-structures, Equipment and systems, Material and parts, Propulsion, and Specialised IT and services. These clusters may vary depending on the product area. Indirect procurement of goods and services of non-flying parts that include buildings, machines and tools, engineering services, consulting, IT and office equipment is under the shared service unit, Airbus General Procurement.

Recently T Murrali of AutoParts Asia visited Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, and caught up with Thierry Vuillequez, Head of End-to-End Supply Chain Quality Boost, Procurement Operations. During an interaction he said, “We have now opened out the market as we need additional sources at competitive prices because we are selling aircraft all over the world. . . . We have set up benchmarks with Toyota, Bosch and Volvo, making use of their