The aerospace/defense industry has been very slow to adapt to the world of e-commerce, but that is about to change and L.A.’s community of aerospace subcontractors isn’t very happy about it.

That’s because, while a new Internet exchange being developed by some of the biggest aerospace companies is expected to save those giants billions of dollars, the savings will come at the expense of smaller subcontractors and suppliers.

By the end of September, a consortium of major aerospace/defense contractors Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Co. and BAE Systems will launch a global online trading exchange called Exostar SM. The four companies have hired e-commerce specialist Commerce One to supply the core technology for the site.

The exchange, in essence, will be used to award to the lowest qualified bidder the contracts for parts, supplies, and services needed by these giants.

Although the Internet exchange initially will be used to purchase non-aircraft commodities and services (such as office supplies or cafeteria services), it will ultimately also be used for the procurement of highly customized aircraft parts and supplies.

The volume of e-business to be conducted is gargantuan. The four partners combined spend $71 billion annually on goods and services, and expect to save between 10 percent and 15 percent on these outlays by procuring them through the exchange. That would amount to between $7 billion and $10 billion in savings.

But their gain will come out of the pockets of the subcontractors.

“There’s no question about it,” said King Lum, director of progress with Ace Clearwater Enterprises, a Torrance-based aerospace manufacturer. “The small companies are going to get squeezed by the big ones that’s the name of the game. This type of exchange benefits the buyers, and the only thing we can do is to become more efficient in order to stay competitive.”

Lum acknowledged that Internet exchanges can also benefit smaller companies Ace Clearwater, for example, can get better deals on so-called “exotic raw materials” it uses in its manufacturing process. But those savings don’t make up for the degree to which Ace and other subcontractors will have to lower their prices to win contracts from the giants in online bidding.