07 August 2012

Simplicity key to outsourcing conundrum says aerospace chief

There is "no loss of face when employing external expertise" for OEMs when deciding to manufacture or buy-in precision engineered parts, the managing director of an aerospace engineering firm has asserted.

Terry Grubb, MD at aerospace subcontract engineering company Micro Precision believes that such action can free up schedules and personnel and harness an inherent level of innovation and market knowledge within the most successful subcontractors.

"Most can be seen as a centre of excellence because of their specialisation in what they do and the markets they serve; often passing on unique retained knowledge from one job to another. Indeed, it is not unheard of for third parties to significantly undercut your initial cost estimates because of their unique skills and expertise," he says.

However, Grubb concedes that the make or buy decisions regularly faced by all OEMs and tier one / tier two sub-assembly manufacturing businessesrely on multiple variables, all of which he says must be considered before any meaningful conclusions can be made, especially when dealing with precision engineered components.

Nevertheless, he offers up a conclusion that he describes as "an incredibly simplistic way of looking at it. Ask yourself: 'Would this company, its employees, its technology, its ethos and its capabilities look out of place if it was my machine shop?' If your answer is no, then most of the hard work has already been done."

Author
Max Gosney

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