SC21 gives UK aerospace and defence suppliers a route to stronger performance
Aerospace and defence are no longer dealing with an ordinary supply chain wobble. A vast cocktail of labour shortages, capacity constraints, geopolitical pressure and record demand has disrupted supply in a way that is still rippling through aircraft production, engine availability and defence readiness.
Airbus is struggling to push A320-family production towards 75 aircraft a month, while Boeing is assessing whether its 737 MAX supply chain could support a future rise towards rate 70. Airlines continue to feel the strain from engine delays; IATA estimates supply chain challenges cost carriers more than $11 billion in 2025.
For the UK, this is not an abstract global problem. Aerospace, defence, security and space companies contributed £42.2 billion to the UK economy in 2024, according to ADS, with turnover across the sectors reaching £100 billion.
Behind those figures is a sprawling network of primes, tier-one suppliers, SMEs, specialist manufacturers and smaller firms whose performance can affect programmes far beyond their own factory floor.
Stabilising the supply chain cannot be left to only the biggest companies. Every supplier has a part to play in improving quality, delivery and competitiveness.
For UK aerospace and defence suppliers, ADS’ SC21 programme provides an accessible, structured route to progress, helping companies benchmark performance, identify weaknesses and make measurable improvements.
How SC21 helps UK aerospace and defence suppliers improve
SC21, or Supply Chains for the 21st Century, is a UK supply chain improvement programme led by ADS. It is designed to help companies in aerospace, defence and adjacent sectors raise performance, improve competitiveness and build more resilient operations.
Rather than focusing on a single part of the business, SC21 looks across the organisation as a whole.
“The programme measures all areas of the business really, from quality, delivery and strategy to environmental, social and governance,” said Harriet Wollerton, Services Director at ADS. “It really takes a snapshot of your whole business, where you’re at today, and what you need to do to improve to make your business better and more resilient.”
Supply chain performance rarely depends on one issue alone, making the whole-of-business perspective crucial. Delivery delays, quality escapes, wasted capacity and weak communication often overlap, meaning companies need to understand how different parts of the business affect each other before they can make lasting progress.
Wollerton said the benefits can go beyond the obvious gains of reducing costs and increasing profitability. Speaking about one company that had achieved an award through the programme, she said SC21 had helped them win new business too.
“It gave them the capacity to be able to bid more, to get more business into their company, increase the resilience of their organisation, and deliver continuously to their customers quality products on time.”
How Hyde Group used SC21 to cut costs and machine time
SC21 has been used across the UK aerospace and defence supply chain for years, with more than 1,000 companies reported to have participated in the programme over its lifetime. For companies under pressure to improve delivery, reduce waste and demonstrate capability to major customers, the appeal is clear: SC21 turns improvement from a vague ambition into a measurable process.
Nathan Williams, Continuous Improvement Manager at aerospace engineering company Hyde Group, is one such company.
“Last year alone, we saved over 800 hours of machine time, just in one of our business units, and over £300,000, again in just one of our business units,” Williams shared. “Having something to follow as we’re working through the continuous improvement journey
has been brilliant.”
For Williams, the benefits have also been cultural. He said SC21 has helped create clearer communication through regular team stand-ups, better visibility for staff and stronger alignment between managers and operational teams. The result, he said, is a working environment where people are happier, managers have greater clarity, and teams work better together than before.
“I think you’re crazy if you don’t get something like this on the go,” he concluded.
Standardising ‘good’ makes it easier for suppliers to work with primes
For major customers, SC21 can also help standardise expectations across a complex supply base.
Ewan Sime, Global Director of Procurement and Supply Chain at Babcock, said SC21 can also help major customers and suppliers work to a clearer, more consistent set of expectations.
“SC21 offers a structured improvement framework, which is specifically designed for the aerospace and defence supply chain,” he said. “What makes it effective is that it combines clear performance metrics with formal continuous improvement methodology.”
From Babcock’s perspective, SC21 is less about box-ticking and more about giving suppliers and customers a shared language for performance, resilience and improvement.
“It allows suppliers to understand exactly what good looks like and how to achieve it, which I think is really important,” Sime added. “Having something like SC21 as that framework allows us to really work together and put structured improvement around their capability.”
The firm has recently launched its SME Engagement Charter in an attempt to make it easier for small and medium businesses to work with major defence primes.
“In practice, suppliers that are on SC21 don’t just perform better, they become more competitive, they become more resilient, and they are better linked with customer expectations, which translates directly into sustained business growth,” Sime concluded.
Getting started with SC21
For companies looking at SC21 for the first time, the entry point is deliberately straightforward.
“My advice to companies who want to start SC21 is simple,” said Wollerton. “The assessment tool is online, it’s free, and it will take you about an hour, hour and a half to answer the questions and get a baseline for where you’re at.”
From the assessment, participants receive a report showing where improvements can be made. From there, companies can engage with the ADS team or with other experts to begin taking the first steps towards a more efficient, more resilient business.
The SC21 team will be at the forthcoming Farnborough International Airshow in the ADS UK Pavilion, located in Hall 1, Stand 1120L. Interested companies are invited to come along and complete their initial assessment on site, after which they can access an hour of free support time with ADS experts.
There will also be an Enterprise Gateway session on Wednesday, 22 July, from 14:30 – 15:30. This session, entitled ‘Linking your improvement to strategy’, will help participants lock down the strategic priorities to kick-start their own improvement drive.
For more information on SC21, see the ADS website here.
Featured image: stock.adobe.com; Post sponsored by ADS Group
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