Original Date: 03/06/2006
Revision Date: / /

The hardware teams that represent key components of the Phalanx team – design, planning, production, quality, customer and key suppliers – have enabled Raytheon-Louisville and its suppliers to establish key points of contact for both sides, increasing communication, saving time, and enabling the rapid and successful resolution to current and future supplier issues.

Raytheon-Louisville has instituted a dedicated Integrated Product Team (IPT) to document, review, and improve mission assurance provisions (MAPs) and to create and enhance supplier-teaming opportunities. The mission of the dedicated IPT is to enhance the quality of Raytheon-Louisville products and services for the Phalanx program.

Prior to 2003, Raytheon-Louisville did not have a forum to look at mission assurance issues or to communicate desired programmatic improvements for quality, cost and schedule. An increased workload in the Phalanx program could potentially create supplier issues such as missed deliveries and quality concerns. With MAPs being institutionalized into Raytheon by the Mission Systems division in Tucson, Raytheon-Louisville was asked to focus on quality and mission assurance so that the IPT would focus on supplier issues and MAPS and passing down those requirements to its suppliers.

The Mission Assurance IPT reviewed, rewrote, and documented all mission assurance directives for the Phalanx program. Supplier Hardware Management Teams were then formed to engage Phalanx hardware suppliers, simulating the sharing of information, sharing quality and schedule issues, and promoting better relationships. The Supplier Hardware Management Teams have been successful in creating a better rapport, which has paved the way for a partnership between Raytheon-Louisville and its suppliers.

This win-win supplier relationship has created trust on both sides. Tools from Raytheon’s Supply Chain Management Tool Set have allowed Raytheon to help these companies be better suppliers, not only for the Phalanx program but for other customers as well. The use of the Total Business Assessment (TBA) tool allows pertinent information from the vendor to be assessed by Raytheon in a scorecard model. This process rates the supplier and works with the supplier to review areas in which they might improve and recognize areas where they excel. This assessment and rating process helps the suppliers and the Raytheon Phalanx Team to understand and mitigate technical risks, production and quality risks, obsolescence, and cost performance, and to reduce total cost by staying under budget and meeting delivery schedules.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.