United Space Alliance supply chain improvement projects focus on safety, quality and process efficiencies, utilising recognized model and tools, for space flight operations.

As the prime contractor for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, United Space Alliance is responsible for the day-to-day operation and management of the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet.

The logistics of this task are staggering. An integrated Space Shuttle, in a launch-ready state, is made up of more than two and a half million parts, and United Space Alliance’s responsibility extends far beyond maintaining the shuttle itself. It includes mission design and planning, software development and integration, payload integration, astronaut and flight controller training, and much more.

United Space Alliance set itself an aggressive combination of business goals: optimise its supply chain operations, enhance its service to its main customer (NASA), and improve quality and safety while realizing cost savings in its operations. In part, in order to achieve this, the company turned to the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model, an all-encompassing supply chain analysis model generated and maintained by a leading international supply chain standards organization, the Supply Chain Council (SCC).