Boeing said it will manage a significantportion of Nippon CargoAirlines’ spare-parts inventory under a programme designed to improve sparepartsavailability for the freight carrierwhile reducing operating costs.

Under the Integrated MaterialsManagement (IMM) programme,Boeing and other suppliers will ownaircraft parts that Nippon Cargo wouldnormally need to hold in inventory.Boeing will manage the inventory andlogistics for many of Nippon Cargo’sexpendable aircraft parts.

"Supply-chain management is acritical part of our business today,and we’re pleased to have Boeing as apartner," said Takuzo Nomura, managingdirector and senior vice president,Engineering and Maintenance, for NipponCargo Airlines. "This programme is an especially good fit for us with our 747-400s. It will help us manage our costs and improve our financial performance."

Integrated Materials Managementrepresents the next generation ofintegrated supply-chain services thatBoeing provides to MROs, airlines andair freight operators worldwide. It canhelp reduce costly and time-consumingsupply problems such as stock-outs, latedelivery and low-inventory turn rateswhile at the same time reducing thesubstantial investment a carrier mustnormally make in inventory.