King of the wing: The man behind Airbus' UK supply chain

In the world of aviation, you don't get much bigger than Airbus — a company that has been the world's largest manufacturer of airliners since 2019.

A global behemoth, Airbus has operations facilities around the globe committed to the efficient design, manufacture and delivery of airplanes worldwide. One of the most important Airbus sites is in Broughton, Wales, where the company designs, tests and manufactures the wings for all its A320, A330 and A350 commercial planes.

The Broughton plant builds and delivers over 500 wing sets every year. If you've flown on a commercial Airbus flight in the last decade, its wings were likely built in Broughton and delivered to their operating airlines via gargantuan BelugaXL and BelugaST aircraft for final construction.

TPG recently went behind the scenes at Broughton to witness the landing and loading of a BelugaXL for a special episode of Airplane Mode.

You can watch the latest episode below:

During our visit, we also caught up with Paul Kilmister, Airbus' U.K. head of supply chain, to find out what goes into building and delivering Airbus wings and how he got started in the industry.

Becoming the wing king

Kilmister found his way into the world of aviation after studying supply chain management and logistics at Aston University in Birmingham, England.

"I'm one of the guys that did actually study supply chain, and I started on the Airbus graduate scheme," Kilmister said. "Those early career schemes are really important for us at Airbus, and every year, we recruit 300-400 apprentices."

Starting as a graduate allowed Kilmister to fully immerse himself in the company through a variety of placements in various areas of the Airbus supply chain.

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"My first job at Airbus was actually looking after the fasteners [nuts and bolts] for the A380," Kilmister said. "That was one of my first placements for three months, and then I did a number of other placements working on A330 jigs."

Since Airbus is a global company, Kilmister has worked worldwide, growing his expertise in all things Airbus.

He spent four years working in Hamburg, Germany, looking after airline customers, then worked in the U.S. for about 4 1/2 years before returning back to Germany.

"That was overseeing 11 facilities from the East Coast of the U.S. through to China," he explained. "Then I stepped into manufacturing here [in the U.K.] three years ago just at the beginning of COVID."

Over time, he rose to more senior positions, and now, 19 years later, he is Airbus' U.K. head of supply chain. His responsibilities include acquiring the components for all of the wings for the building process, as well as the delivery of all the wings: "From building to finishing them and getting a Beluga to pick them up," he said.

Kilmister is humble when he talks about his role at Airbus, but don't let that fool you. This is a huge operation and one that could swiftly fall apart if an efficient supply chain isn't in place.

"Our suppliers are dotted all across the planet," Kilmister shared. "So it's about getting those components, making sure that all of our suppliers are working to a plan that they're delivering to us on time, and making sure those components make their way around this massive campus [at Broughton]."

A well-oiled machine

With so many variables involved in wing construction and delivery, Kilmister spins a lot of plates each day. He prides himself on efficiency.

"When I start in the morning, I have a number of chatbots that tell me what's going on in my operation every morning," he explained. "They're feeding me stats to get me up to speed. Not every Airbus leader has them, but I do. I find them really helpful."

One of the most important moments of each day is the plant leadership team meeting at 7:45 a.m. It helps ensure everyone knows what needs to be done each day and creates awareness of potential hurdles. The meeting is run with almost militaristic efficiency.

"We review safety, quality, cost delivery and people across every area of the plant," Kilmister explained. "We cover absolutely everything in 15 minutes, and it very rarely overruns."

Colossal operation

Efficiency at Broughton is a running theme. With so many moving parts and strict delivery deadlines, it's imperative that wing manufacturing and delivery run smoothly.

"On a typical day, we receive anywhere up to 250,000 individual items in this plant — nuts, bolts, washers, right up to major components that you see on the surface of the wing like flaps and slats that control the aircraft, then the fuel system, the hydraulics and electrical systems," Kilmister said.

That's before the Belugas arrive to deliver the wings to other Airbus hubs in Europe. The facility helps up to six Belugas a day land and leave to deliver the wings, according to Kilmister.

As can be expected in such a huge operation, safety is paramount. Upon entering the loading hangar, all staff members and visitors pass through security scanners and change into a high-visibility jacket before being kitted out with ear defenders and safety shoes.

According to Kilmister, Broughton is one of the safest manufacturing sites in the U.K. in any sector, with typically only two to three lost-time injuries (incidents that delay production and might prohibit an employee from working the following day) per year.

It's an astonishingly low figure considering the scale of the work carried out at Kilmister's facility, which comprises around 5,000 employees spread across more than 100 different buildings.

"That's everything from security, engineering teams, design teams, supply chain, quality and all of our safety people," Kilmister said. "We even have a dedicated fire service. You can just imagine catering alone. There's an awful lot of mouths to feed every day."

The Broughton plant is almost like a small village with five eateries scattered across the site, multiple shops and even a fully functioning football ground and team set alongside the plant's various warehouses, hangars and production lines.

Beluga: Behemoth of the sky

One aspect that makes operating the Broughton facility unique is the daily arrival and departure of mammoth BelugaXL planes that are a key part of the delivery of Airbus aircraft in Europe.

"I wasn't necessarily a plane fan when I started, but I think stepping into Airbus, you very quickly get the bug," Kilmister shared. "The Beluga is the most interesting aircraft. It's just so different to anything else flying."

Airbus previously operated five BelugaST air lifters, officially known as the A300-600ST Super Transporter, each capable of carrying a single A350 jetliner wing. However, by the end of 2023, the BelugaST fleet will have been gradually replaced by six new and much larger BelugaXL planes capable of carrying two A350 jetliner wings at a time.

Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, the newer BelugaXL can carry a payload of 52 tonnes, with a maximum takeoff weight of 227 tonnes, wingspan of 60.3 meters and nose-to-tail length of 63.1 meters. To say that this iteration of the Beluga is a giant is an understatement.

"All of the Beluga ground operations are set as part of my organization, and we can take up to six Belugas in a day," Kilmister said. "In terms of capacity, we're able to carry two A350-1000 wings. So it's a really big aircraft."

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During the morning TPG visited the Airbus Broughton facility, we witnessed a BelugaXL landing to collect a freshly completed set of wings before flying them to Bremen, Germany, for further work and then on to Toulouse, France, for final assembly. On a normal day, the entire process, from landing to loading and takeoff, can be over within as little as 60 minutes.

A larger impact

Outside of the day-to-day, the parts of Kilmister's work that he's the most proud of are twofold. The most important aspect of all, in his eyes, is how the company approaches sustainability.

"I'm really proud of how we're progressing to decarbonize aerospace from looking at the carbon footprint generated in our supply chain through to improving our manufacturing processes, looking at fuels that we're using and the design of our aircraft."

To Kilmister, this is where Airbus can have the largest impact and, in the long term, could truly shape both the future of aviation and the planet.

"I'm here because I believe in our mission to decarbonize aerospace," he explained. "You have an option, right? To be part of the solution or try and do something else. For me, I'm very much part of the solution."

Airbus can also serve as a conduit in which people are able to come together.

"It's connectivity," Kilmister said. "It brings people from all over the world together, brings families together, takes people on holiday and enables business and freight. What makes me proud is what our product does."

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