Building flexibility in the volatile aftermarket parts : supply chains of the defense aerospace industry

Within the Integrated Defense Systems of The Boeing Company, aftermarket support of military aircraft serves as an increasingly large source of revenue. One of the newest contracts between Boeing and the U.S. Government created such a supply partnership at the Army Rotorcraft Repair Depot in Corpus Christi, Texas. At this depot, all Army helicopters, including Boeing's AH-64 Apache Attack helicopter and CH-47 Chinook Cargo helicopter undergo major repair and overhaul. In 2004, Boeing entered an agreement with the U.S. Government to assume responsibility of the repair depot's supply chain for aftermarket parts for Boeing rotorcraft. Over the last two years, Boeing has been creating and refining Corpus Christi's support structure to ensure that the required repair parts arrive when demanded. In establishing this new supply chain, Boeing has identified numerous inefficiencies as a result of inaccurate and highly volatile forecasts. This thesis examines the impact of volatility within the new support structure and creates flexible solutions to mitigate its negative effects on lead times, multiple sources of supply and inventory management.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Myers, Kevin Michael

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Stephen Graves and Deborah Nightingale.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Aeronautics and Astronautics.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39695

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39695