Supplier Visits Highlight Business Partnerships

In today’s dynamic business environment, it takes the cooperation of a multifaceted network of suppliers to achieve the goals of space flight. USA supplier visits help ensure that these key business partners are recognized for their contributions to the continued success of the human space flight team.

Designed to strengthen business relationships and keep suppliers informed on the state of the aerospace industry, the informational and motivational supplier visits are a key part of the USA supplier relations program.

“Our supplier base is critical to the job that we do,” said Mike Jones, USA’s Vice President, Logistics and Material. “Each supplier provides an essential contribution to the challenge of human space flight, and it is important we take the time to recognize their outstanding achievements.”

On a recent supplier visit, Loren Shriver, USA Vice President, Engineering and Integration, accompanied a team to Missouri and Colorado. The group visited LaBarge Inc., Ball Aerospace and Technologies, and Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

The three visits included a welcome from the supplier’s senior management, USA program overviews on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation, as well as presentations on the Space Flight Awareness Program and process control. USA also presented each company with a Certificate of Appreciation. The meetings concluded with facility tours and Shriver speaking about his personal space flight experiences.

“These visits are a great way to show how much we appreciate and respect the dedication and hard work that our suppliers are providing every day for the advance ment of space exploration,” Shriver said.

The supplier visits can also be connected with USA’s community outreach efforts. During this trip, Shriver participated in a panel discussion at the University of Colorado at Boulder along with five other USA and Ball Aerospace representatives. Following the panel, Shriver addressed aerospace engineering students, faculty and staff in a one-hour talk about his experiences in space.

Earlier in the year, Dick Covey, USA President and Chief Executive Officer, joined a supplier visit to New York and New Jersey where a four-member USA team visited three companies. During the trip, Covey visited a New Jersey middle school to donate space-related books and talked with students, teachers and parents about the benefits and educational impact of the space program.

“Supplier visits give us a unique oppor tunity to reach out to both businesses and their communities,” Covey said. “We are always interested in sharing the adven ture and challenges of space exploration.”

With a broad base of more than 2,000 suppliers in 45 states, USA schedules visits once or twice a month. To plan supplier visits, three or four companies in a geographical area are selected, and then a USA team of four to five people, including one to three senior management members, travels to meet with these businesses.

“ USA’s goal is to meet with as many of the supplier company’s employees as possible,” said Gary Henderson, USA’s Suppliers Relations Representative. “We feel there is no better communication tool than face-to-face meetings and no better way to get our message of appreciation across to the company.”

There are 40 supplier visits scheduled for 2007, and more than 34 have been completed. Visits in the upcoming months will include trips to Connecticut, Massachusetts and California.

“The visits have been very successful and very much appreciated by the supplier community,” Henderson said. “It truly takes the alliance of a complex team of employees, subcontractors and suppliers to get our job done, and we are fortunate to have some of the best in the business.”

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