Boeing hosts UK supplier trade mission

 
Image courtesy Boeing
 
Organised in partnership with the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and aerospace trade body, ADS, the forum connected UK suppliers with Boeing operations and supply chain leaders to discuss opportunities across Boeing’s commercial, defence and services programmes.

The event on Monday and Tuesday this week had particular focus on supplier onboarding, bidding processes and prospects for longer-term collaboration.
 
UK Minister for Industry, Chris McDonald said: “The UK is one of the top aerospace exporters in the world.

"The UK delegation is here to showcase the innovation and engineering excellence of our brilliant SMEs, helping them forge new partnerships with Boeing and build vital connections across the supply chain.
 
“Through our Industrial and Trade Strategies we will continue to back this sector and grow our relationship with Boeing, which employs more than 6,000 people in the UK and has spent more than £15 billion with over 970 British suppliers since 2015.”
 
Since Boeing’s UK-US trade mission programme launched in 2016:

• More than 200 suppliers from every region of the UK have participated; nearly half are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 
• SMEs that have attended the programme have generated more than £30 million in commercial export spend, and 80% of participants have won supplier contracts with Boeing.
• Over half of participants have returned to these collaboration events, demonstrating the programme’s ongoing value to the UK supply base.

Sir Jeremy Quin, President, Boeing UK, said: “It’s been 10 years since we launched this programme and the results clearly speak for themselves. UK suppliers, from long-established firms to fast growing SMEs, have strengthened their competitiveness, won contracts and deepened their partnerships with Boeing. 
 
“The UK remains one of the largest supply bases outside the United States and events like this are a practical demonstration of our ongoing collaboration with the UK government, ADS and our dynamic aerospace sector.” 


 
The two-day forum featured a tour of Boeing’s Everett factory (home to the 767 and 777/777X programmes), competitiveness workshops, plenary briefings from senior Boeing and UK government representatives and focused B2B meetings with Boeing’s research and technology, product development and supplier management teams.
 
“These events have given us access to highly collaborative teams and an extensive network of contacts who have consistently supported our journey,” said Peter Girvan, Business Development Manager, Denroy, a Northern Ireland-based supplier of components across Boeing Commercial Airplane programmes. 
 
“Several key individuals within Boeing have actively championed our capabilities, helped us identify relevant opportunities, and guided us through the complexities of becoming a supplier.” 
 
For further information: https://www.boeingsuppliers.com/become/terms#international