People in Space: Andrew Toache, Virgin Orbit

Andrew Toache is the Director of Supply at Virgin Orbit. The company that could be the first private company to establish a horizontal rocket launch service.

The small satellite launch market is growing leaps and bounds, and Virgin Orbit is currently likely to take the top spot in the race to become first to launch horizontally. Over the past two years alone, the number of active satellites in low-earth orbits has increased by 30%, and the trend continues to persist. Many companies strive to enter the promising niche of the space market, but only a few succeed. Virgin Orbit is one step away from its cherished goal, and Supply Director Andrew Toache played a significant role in this achievement.

Company Bloodstream: Supply Chain Management

Toache is engaged in supporting the company’s engineering development, logistics, and planning to increase the pace and volume of production. The procurement process, the relationship with subcontractors, and the state of stocks in warehouses all come under his remit.

Andrew Toache’s Virgin Orbit responsibilities include:

• Monitoring the implementation of orders for the supply and compliance of raw materials with established norms, policies and procedures;
• Study and implementation of the production materials cost;
• Establishing reliable relationships with key suppliers;
• Management and improvement of business systems and tools;
• Control the accuracy and health of inventory;
• Support and continuous modernization of key performance indicators of the supply chain;
• Business projects focused on working with the supply chain, startups, and supply.

Of course, Toache does not do all this alone: ​​he is assisted by a whole team of highly skilled professionals who know everything that is needed to ensure the successful operation of the business.

From manager to supply director

Virgin Orbit is not the first project where Andrew Toache is the Director of Supply. Prior to that, he had similar responsibilities at Northrop Grumman Corporation. From 2011 to 2015, he was responsible for the supply chain, and then, in 2016, he was promoted to CEO for Supply.

Toache earned such a high appreciation of business qualities through many years dedicated to his line of work, which allowed him to obtain the necessary level of knowledge and experience. In his youth, he served in the U.S. Navy and was awarded the Expeditionary Medal for his service at the Multi-National Peacekeeping Forces in Lebanon. After that, he worked as a procurement and material manager at Boeing and Castrol.