Update on Bell
The Bell-Textron organization HQ, located in Dallas – Ft. Worth, has had a slow down in operations due to the Pandemic. This is PART of the reason for the delay in response. There has been some internal re-org in responsibilities lately and I am told that the review/evaluation of qualifications will shift to the Senior Manager of Manufacturing Engineering. Separately, they are looking at their supplier vetting requirements as well, due to the Pandemic. In particular, the supplier visit requirement they have in place before bringing on new suppliers. They put these visits on hold earlier this year, and they are trying to see if they can move forward without them. I think you all know that big companies move at a different pace so we will continue forward with them. A few of you are in the RP category, and this may end up following a separate process.
While some of you may not move forward in the latter stages of the vetting process, I have requested and will receive contacts for three sister operations to pursue: *Textron Aviation, *Textron Systems, and *Textron Mirabel (Canada) within the next few weeks. We have also requested contact information for their key Tier 1 partners…to try and expand member possibilities in that area as well.
Save the Date – November 20th
The next OEM in our Procurement Series is Northrop Grumman and this presentation is scheduled for November 20th with time still TBD. Look out on our weekly newsletters for updates and a registration page. Members make sure to also keep checking the Procurement Series page under the Opportunities Tab on the NHADEC homepage for more updates on what OEM will be next and dates to keep an eye out for! If you can’t get access to the NHADEC Procurement series link, reach out to Sean Foote or Bill Bates and we can make sure your member status is up to date or to learn more about becoming a member!