Development of a rule base and algorithm for a quotation preparation process: A case study with a VSM approach

Quotation preparation lead time plays a significant role in the aircraft components manufacturing (ACM) industry. This is especially due to the fact that on each occasion the sub-contracting suppliers have to manufacture component(s) of which they have no previous experience based on the external demand. The quotation preparation takes place between different actors once the request for a manufacturing proposal has been met. Also, a particular ACM organization investigates the potential capabilities of the selected sub-contracting manufacturers and their suppliers. The sub-contracting manufacturers have to select sub-suppliers to purchase necessary semi-finished goods and raw material to meet the anticipated quality requirements posed by the ACM organization. The waste in terms of time is significantly high due to the possible delays in data and information flow during the quotation preparation process (QPP). The time wastages are mainly caused by the delays within the same manufacturing organization between different functional units (i.e. internal time wastages) as well as between suppliers and the client (i.e. external time wastages). This manuscript suggests an approach with the help of tailor-made value stream mapping (VSM) to investigate the challenges and mitigate the delays caused during the QPP.