Partners in purpose: 2025 Supplier Summit connects service providers to KCNSC mission
The Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), managed and operated by Honeywell FM&T, hosted more than 260 representatives from our external supply base and internal purchased product organization at the 2025 Supplier Summit. The three-day event, which began Tuesday, July 29, and concluded Thursday, July 31, provided a valuable chance for our partner companies to interact with the KCNSC team, learn more about our mission and encourage constructive dialogue.
The theme of this year’s event was “Your Role in National Security: Why You Matter,” which helped emphasize the valuable connection between KCNSC and its supply base. Through the Purchased Product Center of Excellence (PPCOE), KCNSC relies on external companies to generate 70% of our production parts. The PPCOE also sources indirect support services, such as construction, supplies and Global Security. Through these production and indirect vendors, the purchased product organization helps ensure a robust supply chain and consistently deliver quality parts on time.
Director of Procurement Jacque Coleman and the procurement team curated this year’s event to continue developing these meaningful relationships by contextualizing the direct impact of our supply base and delivering important insights on upcoming process changes.
“While we are in communication with our suppliers every day, the summit is our one opportunity each year to gather in person and engage, inform and recognize their contributions,” said Coleman. “The PPCOE leadership team is committed to ensuring our partners are aware of the threat environment, our future growth and our focus areas for performance and strategy. This event also allows us to listen to our suppliers so we can use their feedback to optimize our processes and improve those partnerships.”
To kickstart this collaboration, the summit opened with KCNSC’s first-ever supplier expo where select companies showcased their services and capabilities to our buyers and engineers, as well as other businesses in attendance. Thirty-five companies, representing both production and indirect providers, gathered for the exposition Tuesday to staff booths and connect with attendees. In addition to demonstrating products and services, the expo allowed KCNSC employees to discuss existing projects and explore possibilities for future programs.
On Wednesday, supplier attendees and PPCOE representatives gathered at the Overland Park Convention Center to hear from KCNSC leaders and guest speakers about the current and upcoming business landscape, security risk awareness and digital transformation efforts.
Honeywell FM&T President & CEO Eric Wollerman opened the program by thanking guests not only for their continued support of purchased product operations, but also for taking the time to learn more about business challenges and ongoing efforts. Integrated Supply Chain Vice President Dylan Plemons echoed these sentiments, adding that collaboration with our supply base will be integral to company efficacy moving forward.
“I say this every time I’m in front of our supply base: you are an extension of our facility and our internal factory,” said Plemons. “In addition to our production parts, there are a lot of services and technologies that may not physically go into a weapon but are equally important to that weapon. We want to see how early we can engage with you so we can influence things when they get into production and continue translating those efficiencies through to last production units.”
Keynote speaker and Honeywell FM&T Board Member James Peery took to the stage to deliver a presentation on the changing geopolitical landscape, emphasizing the necessity of KCNSC’s business partners in maintaining a secure and reliable nuclear stockpile.
“Many times, suppliers are the most critical part of our mission,” said Peery. “The threat to the U.S. is real and growing, and nuclear weapons are used every day as a deterrent.”
Because of the continually developing adversary threat, Peery added, our supply base is essential to finding more innovative and sustainable ways to meet the increasing demands faced by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
“Currently, it takes 10 to 15 years from concept to production for a new program,” he said. “Every week, the NNSA is asked to go faster by the Department of Defense and other stakeholders, and our supply base is critical to this.”
Later in the program, summit guests were invited to attend a series of breakout sessions depending on their interests and service type. Attendees had the option to listen to a variety of presentations about focus areas such as purchasing programs, Quality Management System optimization, financial assessments and upcoming changes to classification markings.
Thursday provided an opportunity for a small group of guests to tour KCNSC’s factory. A group of 44 attendees were invited to visit the Kansas City manufacturing plant to learn more about the internal processes impacted by our suppliers. Tour groups received a rare look into KCNSC’s mission in action, as well as the opportunity to appreciate that almost every facet of our factory is touched by the products and services they provide.
Following the event’s conclusion, Coleman noted that each segment of programming offered intentional value to our partner businesses, with the factory tour and supplier expo actively engaging attendees and informational session presenters delivering critical subject matter expertise.
“Our suppliers truly appreciated these opportunities to be more actively engaged with our teams, and the program speakers provided valuable, impactful information while serving as eloquent ambassadors to our mission,” she said. “The 2025 Supplier Summit set a new bar for success in engagement, collaboration and connections.”
