The used aerospace parts industry is worth more than $4 billion, yet less than two percent of that comes from online sales. With most transactions done over the phone or email, the industry has severe inefficiencies, and Honeywell wants to fix that.
Earlier this year, Honeywell Aerospace launched GoDirect Trade, an online aerospace parts marketplace that utilizes blockchain technology to create an optimal transaction for both buyers and sellers.
鈥淲e are just like an Amazon in that GoDirect offers a very easy customer experience, so there鈥檚 no disruption there,鈥 Lisa Butters, general manager of GoDirect Trade said. 鈥淲hat we are disrupting is the experience for this particular industry. For used aerospace parts, the expectation is not to do an online sale. They don鈥檛 expect to see price or product images or paperwork. So GoDirect trade, we see ourselves as a disruptor for this specific industry, bringing this online experience to them.鈥
Until now, no such marketplace has existed. Because many aerospace parts cost thousands of dollars and must comply with countless safety regulations, consumers have not been comfortable with online exchanges in the past. But with GoDirect Trade鈥檚 blockchain technology, these acquisitions provide full transparency for all parties involved.
鈥淚t manufactures trust between a buyer and a seller,鈥 Butters said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like if you and I were sitting in the stands at a football game, and you see the scoreboard, and you and I know what the score is at all times. Blockchain technology is very similar to the concept in that everybody knows the score at all times. It鈥檚 a decentralized-type database that鈥檚 crowdsourced by all the players that are participating in that network.鈥
GoDirect Trade has been live for just over five months, and it has already aggregated more than $2 million in sales and 3,000 active users across 850 different companies. In fact, these companies include the top airlines like Southwest, Delta, United, and more.
鈥淔rom a consumer perspective, they are blown away with the transparency that GoDirect is bringing into the industry,鈥 Butters explains. 鈥淚n this aerospace industry, really transparency does not exist. So this concept where we have price, product images, quality documents, and even our blockchain part pedigree data, there鈥檚 20 competitors in this space that try to do what GoDirect Trade does, and not a single one of them does any of that. There鈥檚 not a single platform that requires price and transparency.鈥
While some sellers are still wary about the technology, Butters notes, it won鈥檛 be long before GoDirect Trade takes over the industry the way that Amazon did.
鈥淲e built this marketplace to really change the industry 鈥 to move the industry into modern times and to bring this concept of online sales into used aerospace parts,鈥 Butters said.
Photo courtesy of Honeywell Aerospace






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