RUAG Aerostructures future-proofs its procurement with AirSupply

The aircraft supplier RUAG Aerostructures switched its ordering process to AirSupply. Simultaneously, the company extended it to include digital processes for forecasting and goods receipt. This allows RUAG Aerostructures to submit orders faster in bulk processing and to collaborate more efficiently with its suppliers on delivery dates and quantities.

Challenge: efficient bulk processing of orders and order changes

RUAG Aerostructures used to process purchase orders, including order confirmations, with its main supplier via a proprietary CSV interface. However, this involved a time-consuming process for order changes.

Particularly the high order volumes and large number of order items proved to be a challenge. After all, RUAG Aerostructures assembles several thousand individual parts per aircraft. If changes had to be made for hundreds of aircraft, this had entailed enormous amounts of work in the previous way. But there was also a lack of transparency regarding changes: it took a lot of time to track down who had precisely modified what, when and how.

RUAG Aerostructures was therefore looking for a solution that would simplify workflows and enable bulk processing of orders. In addition, the IT interface previously used for sending orders to the main supplier was about to expire—thus making a switch to modern, fast data communication even more urgent.

Solution: the industry application AirSupply

“We were looking for a solution that not only handled the supply of materials from our main supplier, but could be used by all our suppliers,” explains Bernd Kanzler, Senior Expert Procurement at RUAG Aerostructures. “Thus, the only option for us was AirSupply being an established industry solution.”

In addition to the actual collaboration process for Purchase Orders and Order Confirmations, RUAG Aerostructures decided to also implement the preceding and subsequent processes, Forecast and Goods Receipt, via AirSupply. As a result, the company can now work proactively with its suppliers and digitally, securely and efficiently handle the entire collaboration process, including delivery date confirmations and changes, in a single solution.

“Overall, AirSupply helps us tremendously in our day-to-day work,” summarizes Kuldeep Saraswat, Manager Operational Procurement at RUAG Aerostructures. “The solution provides us with many new opportunities for even more efficient, transparent collaboration with our suppliers.” These benefits are already noticeable three months after implementation.

Success factors

The competent project team on the part of RUAG Aerostructures, its supplier and SupplyOn was crucial to the project’s success and rapid implementation, emphasizes Kuldeep Saraswat. “This allowed us to quickly find a win-win solution for everyone when technical issues arose.”

Furthermore, the flexible and comprehensive support from RUAG management contributed significantly to the success of the project.

Outlook

RUAG Aerostructures aims to connect even more suppliers to AirSupply in the course of 2021. The rollout to RUAG’s Hungarian plant in Eger is also planned.

RUAG Aerostructures is also aiming to handle further processes digitally via AirSupply. The focus here is on Delivery Notifications (ASN) and the demand-driven logistics concept Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI).

Thanks to AirSupply, we can now work with our suppliers much more efficiently and transparently. Orders and order changes are transmitted far more quickly. We also benefit from simplified processes, reliable agreements and high visibility.

Kuldeep Saraswat, Manager Operational Procurement & Bernd Kanzler, Senior Expert Procurement, RUAG Aerospace Structures GmbH

Benefits

• Transparent and efficient ordering process: The entire history of an order, including all changes, is visible at a glance. Using mass processing, order changes can be performed quickly and easily, even with a high number of order items. The solution also provides a convenient overview of all open deliveries and upcoming delivery dates.
• Efficient collaboration with suppliers: Collaboration with suppliers on delivery dates and quantities is fully integrated in a digital solution. Especially in highly volatile times with many adjustments, this increases efficiency, transparency, reliability and agility in the supply chain.
• Secure, cost-effective material supply: Proactive collaboration with suppliers allows for early identification of potential supply bottlenecks, thus ensuring material supply. Moreover, timely ordering of raw materials by suppliers also drives cost savings.
• Error prevention and replacement of manual processes: The end-to-end digitization of all process steps eliminates potential sources of error and reduces manual effort to a minimum. In addition, the solution provides a high level of data security.
• Supplier development support: The information on order processing feeds into a monitoring system and can thus be used for supplier evaluations.
• Established industry solution: AirSupply is tailored to the specific processes of the aviation industry and has a high level of acceptance on the supplier side due to its widespread use. This significantly facilitates and accelerates rollout. The continuous advancement of the solution is driven by an industry consortium.

About RUAG Aerostructures

RUAG Aerostructures is a global first-tier supplier in the aerostructure manufacturing segment. The company develops, produces and assembles complete passenger fuselage sections, wing and control surface components as well as sophisticated component assemblies and parts for civil and military aircraft. In 2019, the company generated sales of 300 million Swiss francs and employed 1,500 people across Switzerland, Germany and Hungary.