AERO EXCELLENCE - A universal standard of Operational Excellence, recognised by Aerospace and Defence community.
Introduction
Aero Excellence International is a groundbreaking initiative designed to significantly improve supply chain performance across the aerospace, defence, and space industries. It was formally created by a partnership of three leading European national trade associations: the British ADS Group, the French GIFAS, and the German BDLI, all of which are members of ASD (Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe).
Goals
The initiative aims to accelerate industrial maturity and the ramp-up within international supply chains. It focuses on operational excellence, sustainability, and cybersecurity standards. These standards provide a standardised assessment of supply performance and maturity, encompassing criteria such as the efficiency of production systems, supply chain management, quality, and safety.
Program
Suppliers follow a pragmatic four-step approach: engagement, self-assessment, assessment, and recognition. Companies achieve recognition for their industrial maturity, ranked from bronze to silver to gold status, which fosters transparency, comparability, and quality across the industry.
The programme is designed to streamline evaluations and increase productivity. Aero Excellence International is described as a "single and universally recognized referential" that can be utilised as an "Operating System" by companies of all sizes. The initiative became operational in France in January 2024, already involving over 100 industrial sites, and companies like Airbus and Safran have begun deploying evaluations through their supply chains worldwide, including in Morocco, USA, India, and China.
Plan
The Aero Excellence International standards are considered vital for the aerospace sector for several key reasons:
- Enhanced Supply Chain Resilience and Performance: The primary objective is to significantly improve supply chain performance and resilience across international borders, making supply chains more robust and agile, especially in times of increasing risks and challenging ramp-up periods.
- Operational Excellence and Unified Standards: They promote a common language on operational excellence and strengthen operational, environmental, and cyber excellence across industries. This also provides businesses with a globally recognised mark of quality, facilitating cross-border collaboration and ensuring a consistent level of excellence.
- Increased Productivity and Competitiveness: By streamlining evaluations and encouraging improved operational practices, the standards are designed to increase productivity and make businesses more competitive on a global scale.
- Support for Industry Ramp-up: They are specifically aimed at strengthening supply chains to support the aerospace, defence, and space industries’ ramp-up, which is critical given current demands.
- Benefits for All Company Sizes: The programme is structured to support companies of all sizes, including Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), by providing tools and insights to improve efficiency, weather shocks, and prosper.
- Addressing Key Industry Challenges: The inclusion of sustainability and cybersecurity criteria addresses increasingly relevant themes for the industry and strengthens resilience in these critical operational areas.
- Leveraging Collaboration and Best Practices: The initiative is a product of extensive collaboration among leading national trade associations and synthesises best practices and proven results from programmes like the UK's SC21.
The UK aerospace sector as a whole stands to benefit significantly from Aero Excellence International. The British aerospace association, ADS Group, which represents 1,400 organisations in the UK, is a key partner in establishing these standards.
- The standards are intended to make UK aerospace and defence sectors more efficient, robust, and competitive in the global marketplace.
- The UK has a strong history of collaborative efforts in supply chain improvement, exemplified by the SC21 programme, from which Aero Excellence International incorporates leading practices.
- For UK businesses, especially those in the Airbus supply chain, the SC21 programme will continue to operate and help prepare them for the future adoption of Aero Excellence™, with existing SC21 award performance gaining visibility within the new system.
Therefore, as a significant hub for the UK aerospace industry, regions like South East England would experience these benefits, fostering efficiency, resilience, and competitiveness for their aerospace businesses and supply chains.
