In it you will find the latest news from NWAA members, updates from the ASCE team and the Isle of Man cluster, plus plenty more.

A digital version is available to download here.

The Summer edition will be an air show special, which will be  circulated at the Farnborough International Airshow, the largest event of its kind with over 1,400 exhibitors demonstrating their capabilities in the aerospace, defence, space and security sectors.

If you would like your company news to be included in the next edition, please contact the marketing team on 01282 604444.

The Shared Services project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013 (ERDF) and The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), will be run in partnership with e-procurement experts Chamber Plus. It will see NWAA members pooling their purchasing power to secure better deals on a range of services, which will help drive down their everyday costs and improve their competitiveness in the supply chain.

Paula Stell, Shared Services Project Manager for NWAA said; “The collaboration with Chamber Plus will enable the NWAA to expand the portfolio of services available through the Shared Services Centre.”

“We will be launching the new services on 15th May 2012 at the Leyland Hotel in Preston, and have secured John Champion, Director of Indirect Procurement Services at BAE Systems, as a key note speaker.”

Tina Devine, Director of Chamber Plus said; “We are delighted to be awarded the contract for shared services and are excited to be part of such a forward thinking project.”

“We look forward to working closely with members of the NWAA to assist in streamlining their purchasing, lowering costs and improving resource efficiencies, allowing them to focus on their core business.”

The new services will include stationery and office equipment, telecoms, fleet & fuel services, property maintenance, waste management, packaging, oils, gases and chemicals and environmental resource efficiency support.

Andrew Thompson, MD of Chemische Fabrik Tubigen, said; “Chamber Plus examined our processes and carried out a benchmarking exercise on our invoices and identified potential savings in telecoms, waste and business rates.”

“Chamber Plus facilitated the process of introducing suppliers and managed the implementation process which enabled us to realise savings of £5,007 on business rates, £6,691 on telecoms and over 20% reduction on waste removal. I would highly recommend the Chamber Plus service for both their professionalism and results.”

Richard Mazurkiewicz, Group Marketing Director from NWAA member company PP Plasma will give an overview presentation at the event on the savings they have achieved using the new services.

For more information about the new services or to book a place at the launch event, please contact the Shared Services Team on 01772 648800 or email sharedservices@aerospace.co.uk

The second NetFast will be held at Airbus in Broughton on 15th June 2012, from 9am. The format will be similar to the previous one, where members networked in the form of ‘speed dating’, with opportunities being explored during lunch.

Attendees will have the opportunity to take part in a guided tour of the Broughton plant – which is an opportunity not to be missed!

Guest speakers include Norman Thompson, Head of Supply Chain & Quality at Airbus.  The full agenda is available to download here.

In 2011 the civil aerospace sector was buoyant with Airbus and Boeing both seeing significant orders. Airbus in particular with its New Engine Option for its A320 product saw significant new orders at the Paris Air Show with over 700 sales and options for the new variant. Airbus has comfortably outperformed Boeing this calendar year. With the backlog of orders particularly on A320, the production rates are likely to rise in 2012 to levels not previously seen. The growth is fuelled by the growth in the Far East market but notably American Airlines has recently announced an order for 260. Global airlines are obviously looking beyond the current turmoil in the world economy .This is good news for the North West companies with Airbus work and opportunities for aerospace companies with spare capacity.

In contrast national budget pressures from the economic downturn have severely affected the defence market, which is so important to this region given the region is the base for BAE Systems manufacturing facilities. The F35 Lightning programme has suffered from these pressures but remains the long term future for military aircraft manufacture alongside the export of Typhoon. A great deal is dependent on Typhoon export, particularly India where a decision is expected in early 2012.

We have seen redundancies in 2011 mainly from the impact of reduction in military spend and the slowdown in programmes. The future opportunities for our regional supply chain lie in the emerging markets such as India and China. Both have ambitions to develop an aerospace industry but both have immature supply chains. The opportunities to collaborate, particularly in India are developing rapidly but as with all overseas opportunities, it takes a long term commitment and patience to reap the rewards. It takes a long time to develop an integrated supply chain for an industry such as aerospace given the level of skills needed, the process management knowledge and discipline and consistency of performance but we know it will happen. Being part of the emerging market development and expanding horizons beyond the UK is a challenge that existing, developed supply chains need to face sooner rather than later.

The NWAA has seen a year of dramatic change with the planned closure of the Regional Development Agencies and subsequent loss of support funding. On the positive side we retained our core Supply Chain Development programmes and at the end of the year the civilian autonomous systems programme GAMMA was selected within the Regional Growth Fund phase two programme. In partnership with BAE Systems, the universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Salford, Lancaster, UCLAN and the National Nuclear Laboratories, we go into 2012 with the task of turning this offer into a contract worth £4.2 million of RGF funding and a further equivalent sum as in kind contribution. This is a key ‘new technology’ programme, vital to developing a high technology supply chain.

The NWAA will continue its transition to a fully self-sustainable organisation supporting the regional aerospace and advanced engineering supply chain and fit for the global challenges ahead.

The service will enable aerospace companies find out how AS9100 is changing and how that will impact on their organisation.  It will also benchmark current management systems against the new requirements, develop a project plan to manage the transition and prioritise activities to give a return on investment.

Further information about the AS9100 revision C Gap Analysis service can be obtained by downloading our service information leaflet – please click here.

Alternatively please contact the NWAA Shared Services Team and ask for your free preliminary consultation.