A Study to Determine Effective Supply Chain Management Strategies For Decentralized Parts Procurement at Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Everett, Washington

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of a research project that determined effective supply chain tactics and purchasing strategies in support of the decentralized procurement of airplane parts at Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) in Everett, Washington. A number of strategic decisions over the past decade have resulted in the delegation of the external purchasing function from a centralized procurement organization into separate supply chain management groups segregated by product or manufacturing division. Each of the current airplane manufacturing lines at the Everett site (747, 767, and 777) has a separate external purchasing group and management structure. This type of decentralized structure brings about challenges as well as opportunities to the procurement function. A challenge typical to any sort of decentralized effort is to ensure that processes, in this case supply chain and purchasing processes, are standardized across multiple divisions. Certain tactics and approaches should lead to successful supply chain management performance within a decentralized organization structure. To discover these strategies, this research project reviews some of the existing literature on the subject and administers a survey to a group of procurement professionals within the BCA supply chain. The results of the survey are then discussed. Recommendations regarding supply chain management strategies, as well as suggested areas for further study, conclude the research paper.