P&W, Supplier Gold Highlighted at White House Forum

Pratt & Whitney's success with the game-changing PurePower® engine also created a challenge for the company. With a backlog of nearly 7,000 orders and commitments, the U.S. supply chain is vital to the company's success and, just as importantly, is a great opportunity to grow the U.S. aerospace manufacturing sector. To be successful, we need capacity and capability within the supply chain to deliver on our commitments, Joe Sylvestro, vice president of Manufacturing Operations, told White House officials last week.

Sylvestro and Jay DeFrank, vice president of Communications and Government Relations, participated in a White House Supply Chain Innovation Roundtable, which included 28 manufacturers and cabinet members Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Small Business Administration Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randal, White House National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Dr. John Holdren, and other senior White House officials.

Sylvestro was one of three attendees asked to spotlight their company successes at the roundtable. Pratt & Whitney has about 450 suppliers worldwide, with 350 of them in the U.S., and has signed more than $20 billion in long-term agreements. The company is committed to engaging and developing its suppliers through the UTC Supplier Gold program, Sylvestro said, and has redeployed about 200 engineers to work directly with suppliers on building capacity and improving quality and delivery metrics.

The roundtable was convened so large manufacturers could share their success stories about production systems, supplier development and discuss how government resources can be better leveraged to strengthen manufacturers. Tactics discussed included better promoting existing government programs geared toward small manufacturers, redirecting and deploying Commerce Department assets to work more directly with suppliers, and developing talent to meet the demands of 21st century manufacturing by investing in training programs at community colleges and technical schools.

Suppliers benefit from this continuous improvement program, which employs many of the same tools in our ACE operating system. For example, Gold suppliers average 98.5 percent on-time delivery versus 72 percent for underperforming suppliers and have quality metrics that are eight-fold better than underperforming suppliers.

"These initiatives help suppliers be more competitive across their entire customer base and help them operate more successfully while fulfilling Pratt & Whitney business needs," Sylvestro said.

Click here to read the fact sheet issued by the White House.