KS.01Kansas · South Central Kansas
Consulting in Wichita
Wichita has answered to the Air Capital for a century and still earns it: Textron Aviation builds Cessnas and Beechcrafts here, Boeing returned by acquiring Spirit AeroSystems in December 2025, and a deep bench of machine shops feeds them all. When ownership at the top of a supply chain changes, strategy down the whole chain gets rewritten; that is exactly the moment for outside judgment.
The local terrain
What actually drives Wichita.
Aviation manufacturing defines Wichita the way software defines San Jose. Textron Aviation designs and assembles general-aviation aircraft across the city, Airbus keeps engineering here, the Learjet name is part of local history, and Spirit AeroSystems, the aerostructures maker spun out of Boeing two decades ago, came back under Boeing ownership in December 2025. Around the primes sits one of the country's densest networks of precision machine shops, tooling firms, and aerospace suppliers, with McConnell Air Force Base on the city's southeast edge.
The rest of the economy is heavier than outsiders expect: Koch Industries runs its global operations from Wichita, Cargill's protein business is based in the city, and healthcare is the second-largest industry with roughly 28,000 people employed. For the aviation base, the strategic moment is unusual: a change of ownership at the top of the supply chain resets pricing power, quality expectations, and capacity plans for every supplier beneath it, and the firms that reposition early will set the terms for the rest.
- Economic anchors
- Textron Aviation: Cessna and Beechcraft, designed and built here
- Spirit AeroSystems, under Boeing ownership since December 2025
- Koch Industries and Cargill protein: global operations run from Wichita
- McConnell Air Force Base and a dense precision-supplier network
- Metro
- South Central Kansas
- Taxonomy
- KS.01
- Engagement
- Remote + on-site
A note on how we work in Wichita. Praxis is an independent, service-area advisory practice led by Evan Dang. We work with Wichita companies remotely and on-site as an engagement requires, and we keep no walk-in office in the city. What you engage is the thinking and the work, delivered where the decisions are made.
The sectors that matter here
Where the local economy concentrates.
These are the industries that carry the weight in Wichita. Each has its own practice at Praxis: its strategic terrain, the services that fit it, and an honest FAQ.
- 01Aerospace engineering & manufacturingAircraft programs and aerostructures where design cycles run in years and rework is ruinous.Technology & IT practice
- 02Aerospace supply chainThe machining and supplier network feeding the primes, now repricing under new ownership above it.Transportation & Logistics practice
- 03Regional healthcareThe metro's second-largest industry, roughly 28,000 people, serving a wide south-central Kansas draw.Healthcare & Medical practice
Where we start
The services that fit Wichita.
- View service
Strategy consulting
Positioning for suppliers deciding what they are worth to a consolidating aerospace supply chain.
- View service
Change management
Operating-model and workforce transitions as ownership and program mixes shift above the supplier base.
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Procurement consulting
Vendor strategy and cost discipline for input-heavy manufacturers on program-length commitments.
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Business process consulting
Throughput, quality economics, and capacity planning inside shops where scrap and delay decide margin.
Said before the call, not after
Where are we not the right fit in Wichita?
Some of the work this market generates is the wrong shape for an independent, remote advisory practice, and it costs you nothing for us to say which. The general version lives at when Praxis is not the right fit; these are the local cases.
- 01
Formal quality-system audits and sign-offs
Aerospace quality audits and the stamps behind them belong to the licensed bodies authorized to issue them, and Praxis is not one. We build the operating and economic case around quality; we do not and cannot issue the approval.
- 02
Interim plant and shop-floor management
A shop that needs a plant manager needs one on site, every day. That is an operating role, not an advisory engagement, and pretending otherwise serves nobody; we decline it and say why at the first call.
- 03
Work inside clearance-gated defense programs
Work that requires a clearance or controlled-facility access is out of scope for a remote practice that holds neither. The commercial strategy around such programs is in scope; the material inside them is not.
Questions
What does working with us in Wichita look like?
- Can you help a supplier respond to the Boeing and Spirit change?
- Yes. An ownership change at the top of the chain resets pricing, quality expectations, and capacity math for everyone beneath it. We build the honest repositioning case for a supplier: what to invest, what to renegotiate, and what to walk away from, before the new terms harden.
- Do you only work with aviation companies in Wichita?
- No. The aviation base is the natural center of gravity, but the same operating rigor serves Wichita's food, energy, and healthcare businesses. The first call is a fit conversation, and we will say plainly if the problem needs a different resource than an outside advisor.
Bring us a decision in Wichita.
A first conversation is a scoping conversation: no obligation, no packaged pitch. Tell us what you're deciding, and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right firm for it.
No obligation · a scoping conversation first