The satellite industry was hit hard by pandemic supply chain crises including the worldwide microchip shortage, but executives at SATELLITE 2021 said the experience helped them re-imagine supplier relationships.
Northrop Grumman’s Frank DeMauro said there were critical supply chain dependencies that only became visible when they broke down. “There’s a sensitivity to that now that we can work with our suppliers in more of a partnership to figure out where those roadblocks are, and how we can work together to try to knock them down.” The disruptions also forced more flexibility: “We’ve had to figure out how our products will be able to accommodate this same type of component from different suppliers.”
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Airbus’ Jean Marc Nasr noted space is “a kind of dwarf when it comes to manufacturing, compared to automobiles. The value of our market is tiny.” Airbus developed a make-or-buy approach to keep vital components in-house — such as the on-board computer and optical data links — while working more closely with suppliers on the rest. “When you do constellations, the relationship with suppliers is especially important, because you have to have stable supply over a long period of time with quality standards.”
Boeing’s Ryan Reid said unique components at the heart of a system require a closer partnership: “There are things that are developmental in nature, where it requires integrating the tool sets, using common design tool sets as a means of enabling that. Then there are situations that may be more commoditized that don’t require that same level of integration.” VS
