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Aviation Purchasing Managers face numerous challenges, including the efficient management of vendor quotes.
Procurement for parts in the aftermarket can be tricky. Several steps need to be taken and many variables affect where and to whom buyers go to to purchase parts for an aircraft or repairs. From OEM portals, to pre-approved vendor lists, to listing services like ILS and PartsBase, it’s a lot to manage.
We’ll spend some time talking about the procurement process and some of the challenges Purchasing Managers face when they're on the clock. In this piece, we’ll stay closer to the RFQ and Vendor Quote portions of the process, understanding that there is more that goes into it all.
After working with their maintenance department and understanding which units need to be procured, it’s time to start scoping out the parts. Procurement managers have many avenues they can travel to get to their destination where they need to go:
First on the list would be their pre-approved vendors. These vendors have worked with the buyer’s team in the past with success and receive priority when it comes to procurement. A simple email or phone call will likely suffice when sending an RFQ to these vendors.
After that, come the OEMs are next on the list. Going directly to the source can many times mean readily available units, but not always. Often, a buyer will need to log into a portal and complete their transaction from there. Pricing is can be readily available and you can even complete athe purchase, but sometimes the buyer will still need to send an RFQ through the portal and wait for a response. If there areIn the instance of long lead times for a part you need pronto, other channels may make more sense.
Finally, listing services. These services like ILS, PartsBase, etc. sometimes have hundreds of companies listing the same units, making it easier to locate the unit in need. The tricky thing about listing services is that ghost inventory - inventory that a company is showing as in stock, yet does not have - is often listed amongst the real inventory. These services require multiple RFQs to be sent out in hopes that the buyer will receive a few quotes in return.
Whichever your route, it will require multiple screens, multiple vendors, and likely - multiple emails.
Now that all of the RFQs have been sent out, it’s time to play the waiting game.
When Rotabull looked at the data a few years ago, the average response time for RFQs was within the first two hours here on the East Coast of the US. Of all answered RFQs, about one in three are answered in the first hour. 83% are answered within a day. We also found an 11% chance of receiving a response after 48+ hours.
With so many responses coming in throughout the day, it is difficult to keep track of everything, especially in an inbox flooded with marketing emails. POs, RFQs, follow-ups, and emails offering you $15,000,000 from a long-lost cousin overseas who recently passed away (the attorney just wants your social security number and banking info, it’s not a huge deal).
The challenge with vendor quotes is that - like sending RFQs - they can be scattered. They can come in through the listing services, direct email, portals, Whatsapp, and other places. It’s a lot to manage.
Good purchasers excel at organizing them. Good organization comes with easy ways to compare pricing, lead times, documentation, terms, etc. Since the market fluctuates in pricing daily on rotables, data must be complete and easily accessible. This is easier said than done.
As vendor quotes are received, logging them into a database, whether an ERP system or spreadsheet, is crucial—though this task has its own drawbacks, addressed later in this section.
Logging vendor quotes provides several advantages:
First, it offers valuable market insight—identifying which suppliers have specific parts and their prices. This helps procurement teams secure competitive pricing, optimal conditions, accurate tags, and favorable lead times. Without comprehensive information, procurement managers risk uninformed decisions, potentially impacting profitability.
Second, it enhances sourcing efficiency. Buyers frequently need to source the same part multiple times. Without an updated database, they must repeatedly visit listing services and send numerous RFQs, extending procurement timelines. Conversely, an accurate database allows buyers to quickly identify reliable vendors previously used, reducing RFQs and improving success rates.
However, not every vendor quote must always be logged—such as frequent purchases from OEMs or authorized distributors with stable pricing.
The primary drawback to managing vendor quotes is the significant time and effort required. Buyers must manually enter numerous details (PN, CC, Lead Time, Price, Tag, Trace, Tag Date, Serial Number, etc.) into their ERP. While each line might take only minutes, it quickly accumulates when dealing with dozens of quotes containing multiple lines.
Neglecting this step can lead to missed opportunities, inflated purchasing costs, reduced future sourcing references, and limited visibility into vendor inventory—though it may temporarily save hours each day.
There isn’t one right option when it comes to sourcing parts. Good purchasers have a deep understanding of the market and the channels needed to find the right part on time.
Data is a key factor when it comes to understanding the market. But this understanding comes at a cost: your time.
More data provides buyers with a more efficient workflow, but the manual data entry needed to store that data eats away at their days. With more time in the day, they can research more parts, send more RFQs, and purchase more; but is it more effective? That’s for the purchasing manager to decide.
