Leonardo, the Italian global high-tech company, has launched the LEAP2020 (Leonardo Empowering Advanced Partnership 2020) program as a new model for the company’s supply chain in the aerospace defense, and security sector, with visible results anticipated within the short as well as long term.
According to Leonardo, the program is: “an initiative outlined in the Company’s 2018-2022 Industrial Plan which will create a new model for the relationship between Leonardo and its suppliers. The project’s aim is to drive the growth of Leonardo’s supply chain in terms of both scale and quality, starting with the Company’s Italian supply chain but extending internationally. Named to evoke the concepts of momentum and progress, LEAP2020 will see Leonardo and its suppliers sharing future challenges and opportunities, enabling Leonardo to improve its performance in areas such as quality and on-time delivery.”
Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, commented that: “The LEAP2020 program, one of the initiatives in our 2018-2022 Industrial Plan, is an innovative approach to supplier management,” adding: “It will create a virtuous circle that will strengthen the Company and, more broadly, the industry as part of country system as well as presenting more consolidation opportunities in the sector. The project is based on an open platform that, starting with one-to-one relationships with each supplier, will lead to real, mutually beneficial partnerships”.
In its initial phase, LEAP2020 will focus on suppliers considered to be of strategic importance to Leonardo, those that the Company spends around €1 billion (US$1.17 billion) with and which supply to multiple Leonardo divisions. The program defines a model for the selection of a new “growth partner” based on an independent assessment of a supplier in terms of capability, competitiveness, transparency, traceability and sustainability.
Leonardo believes the LEAP2020 program will generate benefits in the short term, with larger gains, in some cases in the region of 20% improvements in deliveries and quality, expected in 2020.
