Jake Glover, EirTrade Aviation’s Purchasing & Sales Manager, tells us about the company’s strategic approach to parts purchasing, driven by expert data analysis and strong supplier relationships.

How do you determine which parts and components to prioritise in your purchasing strategy?

As a trusted stockist and teardown specialist with over a decade of experience, EirTrade Aviation has been able to gather a vast wealth of utilisation data across various airframe and engine platforms.

This intelligence, combined with an expert team with expansive product knowledge, is at the heart of our purchasing strategy.

Our sales team meticulously tracks end-user activity for each component, enabling us to stay ahead of the curve and identify emerging trends within the used serviceable material (USM) aftermarket.

This real-time insight allows us to pinpoint demand and constantly tailor our inventory levels to support our ever-growing global customer base.

Can you explain how you maintain and manage relationships with your suppliers, and how these relationships impact your purchasing decisions?

At EirTrade Aviation, we’re proud to have an extensive network of trusted suppliers that enable us to meet our growing demand.

To maintain our high standards, we adopt a merit-based approach, favouring top-performing suppliers who consistently deliver exceptional service, quality, and value. We rigorously monitor their performance to sustain our reputation as one of the ‘go-to’ suppliers in the industry.

Our strong relationships with strategic partners and key customers have also played a huge role in our growth, repaying their trust in us through reciprocal trade has been a big part of our continued success.

How do you ensure that your suppliers meet your quality and reliability standards?

EirTrade Aviation is an ASA-100, IAA, and AFRA-approved stockist, so we ensure that all purchased materials meet these rigorous standards.

To ensure the highest quality components are procured, we have a dedicated technical team that supports our buyers. This team not only verifies full traceability of components but also serves as a safeguard against the procurement of counterfeit parts, which have become increasingly prevalent in the market.

We work closely with our quality team to continuously monitor the standards of received parts and adjust our supplier base accordingly, leveraging key performance indicators (KPIs) to optimise our supply chain and deliver exceptional results to our customers.

How do you stay informed about market trends and changes in the aviation parts industry, and how do these trends influence your purchasing decisions?

A key element of our team structure ensures our buyers are embedded within the sales team, which we feel gives them the competitive advantage in identifying trends, with a first-hand overview of customer activity.

We also rely on our strong customer relationships to keep up to date with new opportunities and product lines, especially in cases where perhaps our data hasn’t detected a trend yet.

By staying attuned to market demands through close collaboration with sales, we’re able to continuously refine our buy-list and respond promptly to emerging opportunities beyond our core product range. This integrated approach allows us to stay agile, proactive, and responsive to the evolving needs of our customers.

Has there been any recent shifts in demand for specific parts or components that have impacted your purchasing strategy?

Supply chain disruptions and extended lead times for component parts remain a significant challenge in the market, driving increased demand across a range of products.

Over the past 12 months, EirTrade Aviation has witnessed a notable surge in demand for engine QEC (quick engine change) material.

Since the start of 2024, our asset acquisition team has successfully acquired 11 engines across various platforms for teardown, which has helped support increased demand for parts. We liaise closely with the assets team to help backfill high-usage parts and assist with product lines which aren’t in the pipeline, ensuring a fully comprehensive inventory of QEC parts across the board.

How do you balance maintaining a comprehensive inventory with the risks of overstocking or understocking?

Finding the right balance with inventory levels always represents a challenge. EirTrade Aviation models utilisation rates on historic data to give the business the best idea of where stock levels need to be, but this of course is never an exact science.

To calculate the right inventory levels, it’s crucial to identify the underlying causes of demand fluctuations. Is the surge in demand due to an unusual spike in end-user needs? Or is it a more chronic issue, such as a parts shortage from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM)?

Our team of experienced professionals takes a holistic approach to consider all relevant factors and optimise stock levels. By combining data-driven analysis with expert judgment, we ensure that our inventory levels are aligned with market demands and minimise the risk of overstocking or understocking.

What are the main risks associated with purchasing surplus inventory or components, and how do you mitigate these risks?

Overstocking is certainly one of the biggest risks, not only can it lead to reduced reliability of components over time, but it also ties up valuable capital which could be better used to help support our operation in other ways.

To mitigate this risk, our buyers utilise daily transaction reports to closely monitor stock levels, ensuring that we maintain optimal inventory levels across all product lines. At each of our sites, every part undergoes thorough quality assurance and inspection (QAI) before it is accepted into stock. We track the performance of each workshop through KPIs, enabling us to identify areas for improvement and to ensure the best possible reliability performance.

We only purchase material with a full component warranty, which reduces company exposure and gives our customers the peace of mind they deserve.

How does EirTrade Aviation approach the environmental and sustainability aspects of purchasing parts from aircraft teardowns?

We are an AFRA and ASA-100 accredited disassembly service provider, and we take environmental concerns very seriously. We are constantly striving to make our policies the most environmentally friendly as possible.

We always ensure that each aircraft and engine disassembly project delivers maximum efficiency and quality for our customers while taking the necessary precautions to ensure that the process is environmentally friendly and does not have any negative impact on the local eco-system.

As such we have the knowledge and experience required to ensure that our vendors are living up to the same standards when we are procuring from them.

About Jake Glover…

A seasoned professional with over 10 years of expertise in the parts trading sector, Glover has consistently demonstrated his proficiency through collaborations with airlines and major MROs.

Glover’s journey began at Aerotron where he was a sales assistant, followed by advancement through a series of roles, including AOG sales executive, key account manager, and sales supervisor.

In 2022, Glover transitioned to EirTrade Aviation as a sales manager. However, he has recently shifted his focus towards a more procurement-centric role, leveraging his extensive product knowledge to help continue the company’s expansion as a pivotal supplier within the industry.

Sponsored content by EirTrade Aviation.