Original Date: 02/19/2007
Revision Date: / /

Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems Manufacturing Center in Largo, Florida, uses a Six Sigma approach to incorporating supplier-owned inventory initiatives that has benefited both the company and its suppliers. The facility’s Supplier Engagement program is now a strategic process for determining how to improve its supplier base.

Prior to 2007, the Supplier Engagement process at Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems (NCS) Manufacturing Center in Largo, Florida, was random and disjointed and did not focus on achieving coordinated benefits for the Largo facility, its suppliers, and the program offices. Procedures such as Raytheon Six Sigma, a certified supplier program, and a supplier rating system were in place; however, they were performed in a disorganized and illogical fashion.

The current process for supplier engagement at Raytheon Largo is led by a newly formed Critical Supplier Review team that consists of program, quality, purchasing, and manufacturing personnel. These employees are tasked with prioritizing, fully integrating, and determining the type and extent of supplier engagement required for Raytheon Largo’s critical supply base. The company currently has 37 critical suppliers and approximately 1,000 production suppliers.

Raytheon Largo recently launched an effort to communicate its need for supplier-owned inventory initiatives. A letter explaining what supplier-owned inventory is and what Raytheon will do to help suppliers become versed in the Six Sigma concept has been sent to 53 of the facility’s key suppliers. The facility plans on establishing R6S classes specifically for its critical suppliers to teach them supplier-owned inventory initiatives and their benefit to both Raytheon Largo and its business sectors.

Largo’s newly developed Supplier Engagement program has yielded the following benefits: