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Simplifying Data Reporting with Apollo Aerospace Components
Apollo Aerospace Components are an industry-leading supplier of aerospace components and logistical supply chain solutions provider for OEMs. With a proven track record, Apollo has grown into a supplier with global reach and support capabilities.
With 9 stocking facilities across North America, Europe, Asia, and over 1000 active customers; multi-site supply chain management and reporting is key to achieving their KPIs.
Focusing on providing its customers with a competitive advantage, in 2021 Apollo acquired leading distributer NYK Component Solutions, solidifying its reputation as an industry-leading provider of hardware, electrical connectors, and supply chain management.
Digging Into the Data
As a leading provider of aerospace components for the military, government, civil aviation, and denfese sectors, and a growing cross-continental presence, Apollo often found data reporting and control in the hands of suppliers, unable to dig down and question the complex granular data in a manner quickly and efficient enough to take appropriate action:
“The way the metrics were done for the on-time delivery and quality were generated by reports in excel in our system, and then would be reverse engineered with basic math to generate statistics, and was overall a very cumbersome system and took a very long time. Previously we couldn’t break up reporting by suppliers, that was an entirely different process that we couldn’t control.
Due to the nature of the sectors we operate in, and the parts we provide, on-time delivery and quality are the driving force at Apollo. We provide for military, government, civil aviation, and defense, so we really needed to be able to hold suppliers accountable, and that’s what was missing. In the aerospace sector suppliers control the distribution and the industry, so the only accountable metrics we could hold suppliers to was on-time delivery and quality because it’s performance-driven and auditable. We needed to be able to provide legitimate documentation and proof, as there was no way to hold suppliers accountable for performance.”
“Our supplier metrics were limited to on-time delivery and arrears, it wasn’t granular enough and we couldn’t go any deeper.“
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Apollo Aerospace Components
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Working with Valuechain & Supplier Portal
After initial conversations in August 2021, Apollo recognised the potential benefits a supplier portal could offer to their global operations, and with a history of supplying for current Valuechain Supplier Portal client, Gardner Aerospace, were already familiar with the portal as a supplier. Apollo began the onboarding process with Valuechain in March 2022, and detailed what was important for them when looking for the right provider and system:
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“When looking for a provider our main concern was the ease of operation and understanding. The last thing we wanted was to dive head-first into a cumbersome system we didn’t understand, because if we couldn’t explain or understand the system, we wouldn’t be able to get suppliers on board. We needed a system that we could sell both internally to our shareholders and externally to our suppliers.”
Apollo went on to add some advisories and tips for other comparable providers looking to undergo a similar transition:
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Make sure that the very first thing you do is validate your own data first, as that was one of the biggest issues we had and what took so long.
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Speak to connections or similar businesses already on the platform and get their real understanding of how it’s used and the effect it has had on operations.
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Meet with and discuss with teams across your operation to collaborate on ideas and figure out how each area of operation can benefit.
“Valuechain helped to take the human factor out of the data, and report the true data in black and white. The biggest thing for us is that Valuechain validates the data, and that’s what matters most”
“Valuechain’s Supplier Portal pulls the curtain away and shows the real data from our system”
“The highlight is the support that we get from Valuechain, if we have an issue or question we know we’re going to get a response because Valuechain comes from the manufacturing and supply chain sector, and understands the significance of KPIs. They have real-world experience and understand the magnitude and the effect that, negative or positive, the supply chain can have on a customer, an ODM, or a consumer.
Now when we do our on-time delivery report every month, we generate one report for that month.”