Question

What is American Airlines current Supply Chain Processes?

Outline American Airlines supply chain and develop a process flow map that illustrates the primary logistics flow (at least at a macro level). Is there anything unique or interesting about American Airlines supply chain?

Answer 1

Supply chain management at American airlines include the performance of following activities in the current scenario:

1. Benchmarking and planning of supply chain activities for aviation: American airlines perform forecasting of the customer requirements, capacity management, analysis of the demand patterns, addressing key bottlenecks like hangar space, logistics, engine maintenance etc.

2. American Airlines manage material request cycle with complete analysis of requests, days to fulfil the order, delays in processing, warehouse statistics and priority levels etc. This complete lifecycle management has been optimised through SCM tools by American Airlines.

3. In American Airlines maintenance operations are scheduled and recorded to keep track of costs. The planned & unplanned maintenance are recorded. The costs for components, time, labour materials etc are taken into account.

4. In American Airlines vendor & contract management is integrated. The supply chain management is particularly complex keeping in mind the global vendor management. Dealing with orders, contracts of vendors from different countries and managing them transparently offer wide range of challenges to the company. The integration of components, materials, structures and systems need to ensure best results to achieve operational success.

5. Tracking lifecycle of aircrafts using SCM: The components and life of the aircrafts at American Airlines are managed with predictive alerts. Company determines when the component is due for maintenance or is past its useful life with predictive notifications. The items are tracked on a regular basis for proactive replacement of critical items.