GE Aerospace Helps Suppliers Adopt Safety Management Systems

GE Aerospace is actively collaborating with its supply chain partners, including aerospace manufacturer Woodward, to implement and enhance proactive Safety Management Systems (SMS) across the manufacturing base.

In a company update published on September 9, 2026, GE Aerospace detailed its ongoing efforts to help suppliers transition from traditional compliance models to systems-based safety frameworks. The initiative aligns with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandate issued on April 26, 2024, which requires certain design and manufacturing organizations to adopt formal SMS structures.

Benchmarking safety standards

Woodward, which supplies commercial and defense aircraft fuel-delivery components, engine-control components, and actuation systems, is utilizing the established SMS at GE Aerospace as a blueprint for its own internal programs.

Jeremy Nelson, Vice President of Quality at Woodward, noted the company’s desire to model its framework on a mature system to strengthen product safety throughout the organization.

“We wanted to benchmark our SMS off the most mature SMS system we could. That’s why we went to GE Aerospace. The transparency, the best practices, and the lessons learned were extremely helpful.”

Nelson added that the collaboration allows Woodward to advance from a compliance-driven mindset to a proactive approach that identifies and mitigates manufacturing risks early in the production cycle.

Regulatory drivers and historical precedent

The push for supply chain SMS integration follows the FAA revisions to 14 CFR Part 5 published in April 2024. The rule expanded SMS requirements, which previously applied only to commercial airlines, to include specific Part 21 design and manufacturing organizations. Affected companies have between one and three years to implement a structured, repeatable approach to identify hazards and manage safety risks.

GE Aerospace established its own SMS a decade before the FAA mandate and launched its “Partnership for Safety” supplier initiative in 2022 after raw material contamination was detected during routine inspections. The company has a history of cross-industry safety collaboration. Following the 1989 crash of United Airlines Flight 232 (UA232), which was attributed to a titanium fan disk failure, GE Aerospace helped form the Jet Engine Titanium Quality Committee.

Terri Braun Voutsas, Head of the Flight Safety Office at GE Aerospace, emphasized that safety transcends business rivalries and requires continuous improvement across the sector.

“We are very proud that we were the first to get a voluntary SMS accepted by the FAA, and it’s a really strong system. But we cannot stop there. We have an opportunity, and I would argue a responsibility, to build on that foundation and lead the industry.”

AirPro News analysis

The FAA expansion of SMS requirements to manufacturers marks a critical evolution in aviation safety regulation. Historically, the burden of formal SMS compliance rested heavily on operators. By pushing these requirements upstream to Part 21 organizations, regulators are acknowledging that manufacturing defects and material anomalies pose systemic risks long before a component ever reaches an assembly line.

The decision by GE Aerospace to actively assist suppliers like Woodward is a pragmatic business strategy as much as a safety initiative. In a highly integrated global supply chain, a quality escape at a lower-tier supplier can disrupt production schedules, trigger costly airworthiness directives, or lead to catastrophic in-flight failures. By exporting its mature SMS framework to its partners, GE Aerospace mitigates its own downstream risk while standardizing safety protocols across the aerospace manufacturing sector.

Sources: GE Aerospace