Gold-Standard Wincanton Defence Team Soars at Farnborough Air Show

For the second year running leading supply chain specialist Wincanton has been awarded the coveted “gold standard” for its innovative defence sector work.

SC21 (Supply Chains in the Twenty First Century) Gold Award

Wincanton was the first ever recipient of the SC21 (Supply Chains in the Twenty First Century) gold award last year and received the accolade again at this year’s prestigious Farnborough Air Show.

The award was given to Wincanton’s Spares Support Centre in Yeovil for its work in partnership with defence customer AgustaWestland, recognising improvements in the supply chain aimed at accelerating the competitiveness of the UK aerospace and defence industry.

In addition to the Spares and Support Centre’s successes two other Wincanton operations have received their first ever awards, with the Repair and Overhaul Support Centre (Yeovil) and Production Stores both gaining “bronze” industry recognition.

Between them the three centres have seen impressive supply chain improvement results, such as:

• Year on year cost reduction of the packing of spares
• Lead-time reduction of 28 per cent on all Ministry of Defence deliveries
• Repair and Overhaul Centre KPIs slashed from five to two days
• Production Stores 24 per cent productivity improvement.

And this year has also seen helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland and Wincanton collaborating to further unlock the customer’s potential in respect of their supply chain operations.

Jason Dummett, Wincanton’s General Manager for the Production Stores and Repair and Overhaul Support Centre, said: “By collaborating closely with AgustaWestland and paying careful attention to its future strategy we can ensure that the supply chain is fully aligned with that vision and also captures and applies best practice across the contract.”

Project objectives include asset management improvements and reducing things like excess storage footprint and unnecessary transport, with the challenge of delivering 20 per cent more for 20 per cent less.

The SC21 awards are overseen by ADS (Aerospace, Defence, Security) the aerospace and defence industry’s trade organisation. To achieve gold standard companies must demonstrate world class business performance, including delivery and services to customers, internal business efficiency and commitment to sustainability and overall innovation.

Keith Guppy, Wincanton’s General Manager for the gold standard-winning Spares Support Centre, said: “Sustained improvement at this level would not have been possible without the partnership and support of AgustaWestland.”