30% Fewer Shipments: How Procurement Tech is Making the Aviation Materials Supply Chain More Sustainable

This article is also featured on Aviation Week.

By Tulika Dayal, Chief Experience Officer & Co-founder at SkySelect.

As the aviation industry strives toward sustainability, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set an ambitious goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. While much of the conversation focuses on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), next-generation aircraft, and carbon offsets, there is another often overlooked approach — leveraging procurement technology to improve the materials supply chain

By streamlining aircraft parts procurement and enhancing efficiency, airlines and MROs can significantly reduce their environmental footprint, cut costs, and improve their organizational operations.

One of the primary challenges organizations face is managing their complex network of parts suppliers and maintaining sufficient stock to keep their fleets operational. Traditionally, this has required carrying excess inventory and frequently shipping multiple orders of parts over long distances.

However, advancements in procurement technology are enabling airlines and MROs to reduce the number of shipments by as much as 30% while maintaining fewer parts in stock. This minimizes logistics costs and reduces carbon emissions, making operations more sustainable.

According to consultants such as McKinsey, investments in new technologies and organizational efficiencies are key strategies for organizations aiming to become more sustainable.

Shipment consolidation is one of the most effective ways to reduce the environmental impact of aircraft parts logistics. Procurement platforms like SkySelect allow multiple parts to be bundled into a single shipment instead of shipping them individually or in small batches. This reduces the number of shipments required, saving on shipping costs and minimizing carbon emissions.

In one use case, an airline using SkySelect’s Procurement AI Platform saw a 30% shipment reduction. Here's a breakdown of how consolidation improved efficiency.

Just imagine the impact: a major airline or MRO shipping 250,000 parts in 125,000 separate shipments annually could reduce the number of shipments by 37,500 each year. Moreover, by reducing the number of shipments, organizations also decrease the packaging materials used, further contributing to sustainability efforts.

This is just one of several ways advances in procurement measures can pave the way for more sustainable operations. By focusing on improving procurement, airlines and MROs can address several areas critical to sustainability—demand forecasting, sourcing, shipment consolidation, and inventory management—each essential for optimizing the supply chain.

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