The North West Aerospace Alliance has chosen Unipart to provide members with shared procurement services.
The £1.3 million two year contract will see NWAA members working together to improve their purchasing power for products and services including specialist advice services such as legal and HR.
The project will be managed by Unipart, and supported by a web site which will enable companies to order goods online from a number of suppliers.
The contract starts in early 2011 and will initially be piloted with 45 North West based aerospace companies, with the aim of rolling out to cover all NWAA membership and beyond in the future.
The NWAA is a cluster management organisation reaching some 750 companies throughout the country and with an active membership of over 380. Paula Stell, shared services manager said: "We are confident that nothing like this has been done in the sector before. Large corporations or public sector bodies often share services, but we are bringing together separate companies all with common needs.
"The purchasing power of a group of companies will be far greater than a single member of the supply chain, and we expect there to be considerable cost savings available for those involved."
The contract forms part of the work of the Aerospace Supply Chain Excellence Programme 2 launched last year by the NWAA with £6.5 million funding from the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the European Regional Development Fund.
ASCE 2 aims to secure a competitive base of world-class SMEs in the North West aerospace sector, by driving forward five priorities - skills provision, innovation, commodity groups, extended enterprise, and shared services. |
