If you’re a Dash 8 operator, aircraft MRO, or lessor, this post is for you.
This is your go-to resource for the current major Dash 8 components we have available now or in the near term.
Bookmark this page as it’ll be updated often.
Do you have surplus aircraft part inventory?
This unnecessary buildup occurs when you order inventory in preparation for near term consumption.
When that consumption never occurs. Voila! Surplus inventory builds up.
Here’s the impact that this causes to your operation.
It’s not the price you pay, how business savvy you are, or how excellent your negotiation skills are. This is the MOST IMPORTANT skill you need when purchasing aircraft parts.
Your surplus aircraft material was sitting. Rotting. Wasting away on your shelves.
Slowly eating away at your operational results. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
Cash was being sucked down the surplus drain. And the only thing you could do was…
Price. How important is it to you? How often do you try and get the lowest price? I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “It’s incredibly important.” and “Every chance I get.” And that’s fair. It’s also common to ask how much something costs. Or to reduce the cost of something. We often use price and cost interchangeably. That’s a mistake.
Procurement processes in the aviation industry are complex and multifaceted, involving numerous stakeholders, from suppliers to airlines to regulatory bodies.
Email scammers are attacking our clients, demanding payment.
Their persistent, rude, and sneaky. They've become smarter, making emails and PDFs look like companies they're trying to imitate.
As the scammer's emails to our client went ignored, their frequency and intensity increased.
Our client became concerned and notified our Dedicated Account Manager because the emails and invoices looked exactly like ours. The only difference was one letter in the email domain.
Sneaky!
So, as a precaution, I sent out an email to all our customers, warning them of the issue. One particular customer replied and said they were recently frauded out of $6,000 through a similar situation (not from our company).
If you haven't been on high alert yet, don't wait; now is the time to get more aggressive to protect your company and clients.
Duh, right?
But we often get so stuck in the day-to-day, and we miss simple security settings in our technology stacks.
First, whatever platform you use, whether Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, or any other, increase your security settings.
Sure, some good emails may get stuck in spam, but it's worth it. And when you see scammer emails, make sure to flag them as "phishing" so your software can learn about the attacks.
Then, make it a habit to regularly remind your team not to click on any links or download PDFs from people they don't know.
It's also critically important you alert your bank of any possible issues. Secure your bank accounts with better passwords and have your bank rep add access codes to all your accounts.
As a precaution, we've taken the following steps as a company:
First, we alerted all our customers that our banking details have not changed and to not pay any company requesting payment to a new bank account.
Additionally, we've put alerts on all our accounting team's email signatures and invoices:
"ALERT:
There is an increase in scammers requesting wire transfers to non-affiliated bank accounts.
Please only make wire transfers to the bank account details you have on file, as we haven't changed any of our bank account details.
All official company emails will come from an @ name.com email account."
This isn't just an issue about customer payment.
We're also the ones being targeted. Some team members get a few scammer emails a day, which end up in spam due to our email security settings requesting payment from vendors.
Notify your accounts payable teams not to make any payments from email demands to new vendor bank accounts.
They should call the vendor using the phone number stored in your ERP or accounting software to confirm payment details when in doubt.
It's also an excellent company policy for your Account Payable procedure always to have multiple controls where one team member schedules payment and your controller or CFO is the only one who can release payment.
Complaining won't solve the problem, but being smarter than the scammer will.
It's a difficult time, but in these times we can learn incredible lessons. Don't be a bystander to problems. Learn from them, grow, and become stronger. Here's how.
You sit there staring at your computer screen.
This brief pause helps you from pulling out your hair and screaming.
Dealing with stress at work is feels like a gentle punch to the face and a knee to the stomach. It hurts. It’s painful. And it leaves a bruise.
Each stressful blow knocks you down. Some days it’s hard to get back up.
In the world of aircraft maintenance, it’s AOGs, order issues and unreliable vendors. Or maybe it’s your boss putting piles of paperwork on your desk.
This article was first seen on NateAnglin.com. To see original article, click here. At the end of every day, you sit and stare at your computer screen.
We see it in our daily shopping habits. Toilet paper, electronics, appliances, coffee (this is the best kind by the way), you name it. And it gets worse the more complex the sales. More options, higher priced contracts, and more at stake.
I see it at Skylink. We'll need to buy a $15,000 part and we send an RFQ to 25 companies. We know there's 2-3 on that list that are our preferred suppliers who have proven themselves. The same holds true for our clients.
We were recently apart of a $500,000 a year contract. The person leading our client's project is a friend whom we've got to know well. We've done a lot of business together. We helped create the need for our solution and the proposal. We all earned the trust that's necessary for such an endeavor.
Yet, once the RFP was ready, they sent it to 200 people...on their "email list." I get it. I understand the thought behind it. Yet when the no replies, half-hearted, incomplete proposals come back with cheap pricing... choice overload sets in.
It smacks you across the head. Thump. You go brain numb. You begin chasing the Golden Goose.
It's like what Barry Schwartz says in his Ted Talk (don't mind his shorts!)...
You hear about major trends every day—the trends that will have a lasting impact on your maintenance and material life.
But among the deep analytical thinking of the brightest minds, there lie what I call sleeping trends, ones that are less “glamorous” yet impact billions of dollars a year.
There are many of these sleeping trends, but here we’ll look at three within procurement. In our world, the procurement stakes are high...
Here are the notes from the Skylink TV Weekly Brief broadcast for 11/03/17. (You can watch this on our Skylink TV).
Here are the notes from the Skylink TV Weekly Brief broadcast for 10/27/17. (You can watch this on our Skylink TV).
Andres Fabre had a vision. A vision of being the CEO of an airline.
But he wasn’t just born into the role. He had to work hard, create value and transform the people and operations around him.
He started his career in the heat, tossing luggage into carts.
After time, he noticed that wasn’t going to be enough. Not to be CEO. He had to create value for others. He had to WORK faster, harder, and longer.
Andres began to realize something…
Thank you for taking the time to get to know us and allowing us to get to know you better. We’re looking for the next person who will be a perfect fit to the Skylink team. Is it you? If you think so, read the open role below and let’s get together.
We’re a dedicated team working together to bring efficient supply chain solutions to international airlines, MROs and military aircraft fleets.
We deliver this by following our “Never Forget Your Wings” mantra. We're their wings when they need them the most.
Every day we help fleets remain in the air and avoid the complexities of aircraft maintenance.
Since 1986, Skylink has been providing material solutions to the aviation industry. But in 2008 we were reborn. We’ve focused deeply on innovating, relationships and customer service which has been the cornerstone of the Skylink you see today.
As we peak into the future, we are at an incredible point to become a much bigger player in the industry where our team, our customers and our solutions thrive. With 30 years of history behind us we are well positioned for years to come.
At Skylink, we only hire the best, whose values and commitment are #1. It’s your hustle, commitment and service to excellence.
And that's why we want you to join our team!
You’ll work at our Skylink hub in Sanford, FL, right outside of Orlando, FL.
It's a little more quiet out here.
You’ll have your own workspace and organize it with what makes you happy and inspires you.
You will work daily with various Skylink teams, clients, and supply chain partners that span every country on this fine planet we call home.
You'll work within your purchasing and material team with your own goals and objectives.
But we don't believe in silos and each team has direct impact on other teams. That's why cross functional communication and training are very important here.
Teams are able to make their own decisions as long as they involve people affected in the decision and people who have knowledge in the decision topic.
We are constantly innovating and everyone’s ideas matter. Flexibility and improving is our middle name.
We all work to maximize the value we create for customers and to create “WOW” experiences every step of the way.
We’re looking for a go-getter who has purchasing and material knowledge, preferably within the aviation industry.
These awesome team members ensure our material requirements are on time and on budget.
You’ll work closely with customer happiness engineers, content creators, dedicated account manager, warehouse and other supply chain champions to provide efficient supply chain solutions for our customers and potential customers.
In order to thrive and survive you’ll need to know how to negotiate, cut POs / ROs and the importance of expediting and following up. You’ll build close relationships with vendors and OEMs so a positive and engaging personality is infectious and required. We only breathe optimism.
You'll also work on re-stocking high consumption material, monitoring minimum stock levels, creating kits and evaluating material to stock. If you have a lot of experience with aviation material...that's a huge browney point.
You’ll run into issues every day. Being able to accept problems and then solving them is a big point when working on our team.
As an individual we invite you to be create and innovate. We look for people that have this unique characteristic to join our team and you very well may be that person.
Being organized is essential and having a cross-cultural mentality is a must as we work with many people from all over the world. Even in stressful times you’ll need to keep calm and focus on creating the “WOW.” You’ll be tested to think outside of the box and avoid industry norms. Being organized will help you get through these difficult points.
We strive for a balance of being a team that feels like a family. This means we share feedback regularly, support each other’s self-improvement efforts, and take mistakes as opportunities to learn together. Using your mind to innovate is highly regarded.
If your not afraid to negotiate, your organized and you communicate well you’ll be a perfect person for this role.
We are deeply passionate about working as a team and going over and beyond for our customers.
Creating “WOW” experiences, be willing to adapt and drive change, hustling and driving maximum efficiency, accepting problems and solving them, building a team-oriented approach, and having passion and integrity are the core values we live by.
If you feel you embody each one of these then you’ll be an AMAZING addition to our team.
