How NASA manages its supply chain?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, generally known as NASA, is the leading aerospace industry of the United States of America. NASA is now on the verge of something new and innovative as it has now presented its nascent vision of exploring the space beyond Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) both robotically and with humans as well. Thus the characteristic of Supply Chain Management becomes an immensely important part of America’s space technology investments. Investments for such enormous kinds of projects stand on the edge depending on pivotal such as cost-efficiency in the operational realm, different space processes, and in operation and arrangement of space vehicles. The challenges in the operational field itself are many, for example, narrow funding, inter-program transitions, and time gap problems than occur in the post-shuttle era. This is indeed a grand investment and it takes years to show some kind of progress, it also requires innovation and some sort of creativity amongst the engineering society. This creativity and innovation in ideas is a tribute to the significance of Supply Chain Management, the materials in use, and the flow of statistical data. The working experience within the Departments of Defense and other commercial industries that factors like the reduction in support costs and the avoidance of upwards to 35% over the businesses are hit able. Supply Chain Management can bring the exploration of the solar system within our economic reaches and hopefully it shortly will.       

The application of Supply Chain Management in the densely populated commercial market and the scarce but schedule-driven aerospace environment is very crucial. It helps in controlling, planning, most importantly managing the recurring costs, as well as the non-recurring costs. These costs are associated with the operational department and the construction and processing of space vehicles. On the other hand, the process of handling space flights and effective management of ground support is equally viable.  Each of the three stages for new program development; early design, development, and test and engineering requires close analysis and should be driven on the supply chain management principles. The increment of around 70 to 80 percent of the recurring cost in terms of operations is mainly due to the indirect costs of processing for the launching activities of the space vehicle. And this is important as well because this cost will define the initial phases of the product lifecycle. The important breakthroughs in the field of supply chain management are empowering the industries in the commercial sectors to carry extreme operations. Subsequently, it is helping the production managers to forecast their capabilities of integrating the mobilization of manufacturing sources, and that too in time and as per the demand.   

 On the flip side, a close look at the gigantic level of the space adventures and the insurance of sustainability at every corner of the program from the very start to the pinnacle makes the process of integrating and forecasting a complicated one. Some might say that everything becomes unachievable and meaningless, but in reality, it is attainable. The key to success lies in the effectiveness of the supply chain management properties with a blend of planning, associative forecasting, and realistic scheduling.