CHAPTER 01 · OVERVIEW
A Defense Manufacturer's Supply Chain and Security, Rebuilt Around AI
One working session surfaced how much risk was sitting in spreadsheets nobody cross-checked. Today, supplier risk, software risk, and facility access all get watched the same way, every day.
A single-source supplier's financial trouble surfaced two weeks after it started — and only because someone happened to read the news. By then, a program milestone was already at risk. Nothing sensitive could touch a public AI model, so nobody had tried automating any of this.
Industry
Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing
Operation
ITAR-adjacent aerospace & defense contract manufacturer · on-prem and air-gapped data requirements · multi-program supplier base
Systems in place
ERP · PLM · SharePoint · supplier portals · badge/access control
Scope
3 facilities in scope
WHAT SOLVING THIS REALLY MEANT
This Wasn't About a Dashboard
The program-risk blind spot
A supplier problem that surfaces late doesn't just cost money — it can slip a program milestone that's contractually and reputationally expensive to miss.
The software supply chain nobody audited
Every open-source component shipped inside a deliverable is a component the government can ask about. Without a real answer, that's a finding, not a conversation.
The access-control audit that has to hold up
Physical access to a controlled facility has to be defensible after the fact, not just approved in the moment.
HOW AN ENGAGEMENT RUNS
Same Three Phases, Every Time
01 · Day 0
Discover
One working day, on-site and on the record. We interview people, review the compliance boundary, map how risk actually gets caught today, and score what we find.
02 · Weeks 1–8
Build
The first system shipped inside the program office's approved boundary — no data leaves, no new platform to certify.
03 · Ongoing
Operate
We tune it, add the next workflow, and keep the compliance posture current as real usage comes in.
OPERATING BENCHMARK
30 days
from the first working session to the first AI system live and cleared for use
$7.8M
modeled annual value, once every wave is live
3
Facilities in scope, one team
Annual Value Created
Modeled from the discovery baseline. Value is captured across cost reduction, revenue growth, and risk mitigation — not cost alone.
UP NEXT · DISCOVER