Mahantesh Kadagad graduated from the department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in the Spring 2002.  He also has a B. E (IE) in 1999 from Karnataka University, Belgaum, Karnataka-Maharashtra, India.

Thesis title: Identification and assessment of Wichita area aerospace supply chain's perceived risks.

(Spring 2002)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify and assess the impact of the perceived risks encountered by a supply chain participant involved in multiple various supply chains. This is done through an internet survey of participants in the Wichita Area Supply-Chain Council. Supply chain is a network of enterprises collectively responsible for satisfying the customer by creating an extended enterprise that conducts all phases of business.
Aerospace supply chains are complex and Wichita area aerospace supply chains mainly consist establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing or assembling complete aircraft. The aerospace industry mainly operates in engineer to order and to some extent make to order environment, meaning the highest lead-time, with more and more customer involvement at each stage. The central problems in the aerospace supply chain are: long lead-time, the failure of suppliers to deliver on time, different customers with different requirements for similar orders and short-term and long-term relationships between suppliers and OEMs.
From this research, the facts that are supported descriptively are: failure to deliver on time by a supply chain participant is the primary risk, different customers have different requirement in quality, process, sourcing and delivery practices, and suppliers carry inventory to reduce uncertainty foreseen by OEMs, to avoid high setup costs and to strengthen relationships. Supply chain initiatives are a major thrust to achieve lower operative cost, best quality and customer satisfaction at the shortest lead-time. Though the supply chain is complex, initiative by everyone in the supply chain will dampen the variability and companies will be able to keep up the pace in the new millennium.