Minority Business 

Help Locating

By: Staff Report

     The U.S. government requires its major contractors to share work with a specific percentage of Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs). Boeing is striving to reach a target where at least five percent of the suppliers it deals with have been certified as economically or socially disadvantaged firms.

      Major aircraft manufacturers today simply don’t have the time or resources to locate these minority businesses. “Major aircraft builders in the United States , Europe and Canada are attempting to lessen the mechanics of dealing with suppliers and reduce the number of vendors they work with,” says David Rohlander, CEO of RFQsolutions, a global strategic sourcing and communications system. “Many of the largest manufacturers are reducing their overhead and management expense by pushing down the responsibility of dealing with the many thousands of vendors who make the parts to build an airplane or a car to a few select prime vendors.”

        Aerospace Dynamics International, Inc. (ADI), a $60 million a year prime vendor supporting the aeronautics and aerospace sectors, is helping major manufacturers find SDBs. ADI is a Boeing Silver Supplier and British Aerospace Bronze Supplier. “For larger aerospace companies, it is very difficult to break through the regulations to find SDBs,” explains Jeff Howton, director of procurement for ADI. “The government mandate has specific rules which are very tough to follow.”

        ADI is locating these minority businesses quickly and easily. To do this, it is using RFQsolutions. This patent pending system brings buyers and suppliers together online.

      According to Howton, any major manufacturers who don’t have this system in place should seriously consider it. “RFQsolutions offers the immediate ability of direct communication between customers and suppliers,” Howton reports. “RFQ helps my...

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