Robinson Helicopters in Torrance began experiencing supply chain problems about a year ago.
In the first year of the pandemic, supply chain problems initially didn’t affect the company because it had a large inventory of everything, according to Kurt Robinson, chief executive of the Torrance-based aircraft manufacturer. did.
“Obviously, over the past year or so, it’s affected us quite a bit,” Robinson said. “We have seen many cases where vendors miss deadlines significantly.”
Associated with that is the high rejection rate of parts.
When speaking to vendors about this, Robinson said he was told it was due to high employee turnover or changes in the types of materials used to make parts.
“We have seen a higher and higher rejection rate over the last six to nine months because we need to maintain a high level of quality,” Robinson added. “As we move forward, that is really our number one concern. Not only do they give us the 100 parts they are supposed to give us, but all 100 parts have the quality we need. It is fulfilling.”
Robinson Helicopters is not alone in facing global supply chain challenges. The problem arose because the Covid-19 pandemic forced closures in areas with high concentration of manufacturers, especially in China. Increased consumer demand. Backing up in ports, especially in Southern California, where he has two of the busiest ports in the world.
Additionally, there is a shortage of workers in key tasks to keep supply chains running smoothly.
Like Robinson Helicopters, Lee’s Enterprise also has supply chain problems. Founded in 1974, the Chatsworth-based manufacturer does only aerospace work. About 75% of it is for military customers and 25% is for commercial aviation. We manufacture a wide variety of aircraft parts and assemblies and machine parts from carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and other standard aircraft metals.
“We make parts that are special gears that go inside electromechanical actuators,” said Tom Molnar, president. “That means our product has a lot of external specialty processing.”
After being machined at Lee’s facility, the parts are sent for heat treatment and plating. But the company is finding lead times for heat treatments and plates to be getting longer and longer as it experiences staff shortages and a surge in jobs, he said.
David Fisher, owner of S&H Machine, an aircraft parts manufacturer in Burbank, also sends commercial aircraft parts for heat treatment and plating. He said he has hundreds of vendors working for the company and they have raised prices because the cost of doing business has increased.
“We’ve been tied to contracts and fixed prices for years, and that’s made it difficult for companies like us, putting a huge financial burden on shops like mine. he said.
Due to supply chain and labor shortages, S&H is not taking on new jobs. Instead, Fisher said he’s focused on the legacy work he’s always done.
“I’m turning down business I’ve never seen before because I don’t have the ability to take it on right now,” he added.
Limited quantity
David Goodreau, President of the Small Business Aerospace Industry Coalition, is a Glendale-based, small, independently owned, national non-profit that manufactures and supplies military aerospace spare parts, components and assemblies. The coalition, which is a network, said it sold some manufacturing equipment, including simulators for CNCs. (computer numerically controlled) machine.
Another company bought three simulators for thousands of dollars and did something interesting with them.
Computer chips are in limited quantities due to supply chain issues, so the company took them out of the simulator and put them into other equipment, Goodreau said.
“There are examples of people making lemonade out of lemons,” he added.
For Molnar at Lee’s Enterprise, it’s the opposite: everything takes time.
He said customers are ordering more parts in advance because the parts require longer lead times to process.
So, in addition to ordering more parts to keep prices down, we are ordering parts even faster, Molnar added.
“I feel like we’re creating an artificial backdrop for demand to skyrocket when there isn’t enough supply to handle it,” he said.
For Robinson, it’s a very simple equation: You can’t build a helicopter without parts.
low optimism
Sikich, a consultancy and technology firm based in Naperville, Illinois, last week released the Sikich Industry Pulse, its latest report on the manufacturing and distribution industry. The survey findings were compiled from responses from 100 manufacturing and distribution executives questioned in June.
According to the survey, only 58% of manufacturing and distribution executives rated their optimism above 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Supply chain and labor shortage issues are also contributing to manufacturers falling behind in meeting customer demands.
Forty-three percent of surveyed executives say supply chain disruptions that cause material shortages are the top reason their companies are unable to meet demand. 39% cite labor shortages as a reason for their inability to meet customer demand.
But S&H Machine’s Fisher wasn’t pessimistic about the future of his business.
“We need to find people, we need to find ways to automate,” Fisher said. “The fact that there is work is good.
Fisher said he feels good about the future and is confident he will get through this difficult time.
“There’s less competition than there used to be, so that’s a good thing,” he added. “There are some nice things out there.”
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