Bombardier: Redefining aerospace

Bombardier is a global leader in aviation, focused on designing, manufacturing, and servicing the world’s most exceptional business jets. 

Bombardier operates aerostructure, assembly and completion facilities in Canada, the United States and Mexico for its Challenger and Global aircraft. Renowned for its cutting-edge innovation, cabin design, performance, and reliability, Bombardier has a worldwide fleet of more than 5,100 aircraft in service.

Sustainability focus

Bombardier is anchored by a commitment to sustainable development and seeks to create long-lasting, powerful change. Bombardier is a signatory to the United Nations’ global Compact and its ESG plan is aligned with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability is a key focus area for the organisation. 

In 2023, Bombardier’s total waste was 23% lower and its hazardous waste was 24% lower compared to baseline year 2019. These results stem from improvements in the company’s stock management in manufacturing sites. In 2019, Supply Chain Bombardier implemented a web-based logistics and intelligent supply chain execution software that facilitates communication between different ERP platforms, ensuring reliable inventory data and actionable insights help mitigate operational and external risk and inventory orchestration capabilities enhance operational efficiency, which contributes to reducing resource consumption and waste in supply chains.

As the Chief Procurement Officer and Senior Vice President in Supply Chain at Bombardier, Shauna Gamble has made it her mission to transform procurement aviation into a best-in-class organisation, leading over 950 top talented employees and collaborating with 5,900 suppliers located in about 30 countries globally. She tells us her organisation is on track to reach its goal of planting 25,000 trees by the end of 2025. 

“It’s about being thoughtful about introducing sustainability for the right reasons” – Shauna Gamble, Chief Procurement Officer, Bombardier

“It’s also about answering some key questions,” Gamble tells us. “Where do we buy our products from? Where do we buy our services or our chemicals from? How can we reduce the air miles in all of our parts, so that the footprint that we are driving reduces? Today at Manifest Vegas, I had an opportunity to share a little bit of the story of our next-generation aircraft that we are working on. It’s 50% less fuel consumption now and is in the development stages, but it’s very exciting. Those are the tools and those are the differences I believe aerospace can make.”

However, a sustainable approach costs money and sometimes the greenest option isn’t necessarily the cheapest. It is something that Gamble is well aware that suppliers may have problems with but she stresses that being ‘thoughtful’ about sustainability is the key.

“Introducing significant cost increases is very hard to digest by our customer base,” she explains. “It’s about being thoughtful about being sustainable for the right reasons. Perhaps it is also worthwhile to take smaller steps instead of very large steps so the industry can absorb those costs as we go. We leverage companies like Kuehne + Nagel to consolidate our freight and they act on our behalf to reduce the amount of pickups and transportation. We have instituted an expedite application in our company, so it’s an app that has significantly reduced the amount of expedited freight that we do. It is thoughtful actions, but it will take time in my opinion.”

Collaboration

However, in order to make long-lasting change happen, collaboration with key stakeholders is fundamental to reaching sustainable objectives. Gamble reveals that there are a significant number of conversations taking place with major partners about a range of issues, including down to the type of packaging used.

“We work with some of the largest companies in the world, particularly in aerospace and many of them in the United States,” says Gamble. “And the conversation is the right conversation. They are engaged, understand the requirements, and have the same beliefs themselves. It’s not a foreign dialogue we’re having with them which is a good thing.”

Evolution

But Bombardier’s journey has not been linear. The aerospace industry was one of the hardest hit in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting years since have also not been kind to the space with the likes of wars, inflation and wildfires to name a few, causing their own issues.

“It’s been an extraordinary five years and certainly no one could have seen the pandemic coming,” Gamble tells us. “Being able to go and gather data to find out what’s going on in the industry allowed us to be better prepared than our competition and enabled us to deliver aircraft to plan for the last three years in a row. That courage to dig and find out what’s happening next is important because, like it or not, there are new headwinds coming for the aerospace industry and for supply chain leaders. That proactiveness for what could influence our bottom line and our customer’s experience is paramount for us to be successful.”

One of the biggest buzzwords on supply chain leaders’ lips today is advanced technologies such as generative AI and how to implement it into operations successfully. However, Gamble insists that while the future of the supply chain will be digital-led, the way that companies will measure success depends on how it is interpreted.

“We work with some of the largest companies in the world, particularly in aerospace and many of them in the United States” – Shauna Gamble, Chief Procurement Officer, Bombardier

“GenAI is fundamental to the success of supply chains of the future – there’s no doubt in my mind,” explains Gamble. “Do I think we have matured it as fast as I thought maybe could happen? I’m not sure. Some industries are very strict on standards and compliance, such as in the aerospace industry. Introducing a lot of change without understanding the impact on our aircraft and safety, which is paramount to us, means it may take our industry a little bit longer. However, there is no doubt in my mind that providing staff with the best tools that we have today gives them insight and can help them make a better, more educated decision. It’s not always challenges, it’s opportunities. I think we have a long way to go, but the past couple of years have shown how much it’s truly stepped up.”

Managing the data

The true key ingredient to Bombardier’s success lies within the data. Successful supply chains need visibility in order to manage today’s complex business landscape. The more comprehensive the data, the better an organisation’s decision-making is. The way in which a company approaches that data and supply chain visibility can provide insights into the entire supply chain process. Data analytics can provide insights about where products are from manufacture to delivery, monitor stock levels and manage supplier performance. 

For Gamble, she believes a simplified approach to overcoming data quality challenges often works best in the first instance.

“Sometimes, you’re going to have to step back and clean what you have,” she says. “I know that seems like a daunting, very basic activity, but that’s what we are doing at Bombardier. In fact, we are currently building the entire Yellow Pages of every aerospace supplier. Where are they? What do they do? Could I have a second source or a third source? Then it’s about taking data that we are getting through some of the cloud-based applications that we have to help us build risk or de-risk plans. Do we see certain trends in certain industries? What is the size of a company and where are they located? What geopolitical issues are happening within that region? Data is key for our success.

“Is it always 100% clean because we’re coming off of infrastructures that might be a bit dated? No. Is it going to need a lot of heavy lifting for a little while to get that data clean? Yes. But I am a huge fan of the value of data. The more you know, the better decisions you can make.”

Find out more about Bombardier here.