World Leading Aerospace Company

	Quick Facts Configured Datastream 7i to map directly to the division’s work processes Manage >14,000 assets and 100,000 work orders each year Robust reporting and analytics capabilities have vastly improved the ability to meet the requirements of the Six Sigma Plus process improvement program Datastream 7i dashboard provides “at a glance” information on key performance indicators. The Datastream 7i Buy module optimizes the company’s 40,000-item store room.

Background
One of the world’s largest suppliers of aircraft engines, equipment, systems and services for commercial-transport, regional, general-aviation and military aircraft needed to implement a multi-site Asset Performance Management solution as part of its corporate initiative to achieve Six Sigma-caliber manufacturing process quality. This company manufactures auxiliary power units; turbofan, turboprop and turboshaft propulsion engines; marine propulsion and ground power systems; engine systems and accessories; commercial avionics, including enhanced ground proximity warning systems; flight control systems; environmental control systems; aircraft landing systems; power management and generation systems; and interior and exterior aircraft lighting.

The company chose the Datastream 7i Asset Performance Management solution because it provided the functionality, flexibility and robust reporting capabilities required to support Six Sigma manufacturing processes. Additionally, with its Web architecture, Datastream 7i enables the company to standardize on Six-Sigma-compliant processes across all of its plants, because all employees are working from the same system.

The Goal
As part of its proprietary Six Sigma Plus methodology of continuous process improvement, the company needed to implement a number of initiatives to improve organizational effectiveness and better meet customer commitments. As part of this, it realigned the relationships between its product lines, manufacturing sites and strategic business enterprises to provide better customer focus and boost productivity. To support these improvements, the company needed an Asset Performance Management system that was flexible enough to accommodate new and changing business processes. The system also had to provide in-depth reporting and analytical capabilities so the company could measure improvements and identify problems in its operations. Specifically, the company wanted a system that could provide on-demand access to critical metrics including:

• Work order turnover rate
• “Finished on time” rate
• Job estimate accuracy
• Booked hours, for tracking labor efficiency
• Stock discrepancies
• Dollar value of maintenance inventory

The Challenges
The company was using an old mainframe system to manage its production assets and facilities. However, this monolithic system simply could not support the division’s business objectives under the Six Sigma Plus program. “With a mainframe system, what you see is what you get. There’s very little you can do to configure it for your specific business processes,” said the company’s system administrator. “What you wind up with is a system that dictates your processes rather than supporting them. And the reporting functionality was very limited – it could only produce canned reports that did not provide the insight we needed to optimize our operations.”

The company knew it needed a new system that could provide true insight into its operations across multiple facilities. Thus, it would have to be a Web-architected solution that could capture and analyze cross-enterprise operational data. And, to achieve its Six Sigma Plus objectives, the system needed to be configurable to support optimal work processes, and provide robust analysis and reporting to provide on-demand access to key performance metrics.

However, the company also needed a system that could be deployed quickly and across multiple facilities. And, it needed to be flexible and scalable enough to perform dual functions, both as an asset management system for optimizing manufacturing operations and as a facilities management system for keeping the company’s office buildings and manufacturing facilities operating effectively.

The Solution
After a thorough competitive evaluation that included Datastream’s industry-leading Web-architected asset management system, the company selected Datastream 7i. Datastream 7i was the only Asset Performance Management solution that provided all of the capabilities the company needed, including:

• A Web-architecture that would enable a single instance of the application to be deployed across all of the company’s locations
• The capability to be configured to support the company’s work processes, including mobile capabilities
• The ability to integrate with other enterprise systems through the Databridge module.
• Flexible and powerful reporting and analytics capabilities, to provide the company’s managers with on-demand access to critical metrics and graphical key performance indicators (KPIs) 
• Integrated automated procurement with Datastream 7i Buy to optimize inventory levels

“We use Datastream 7i to manage our facilities and production assets across 2.5 million feet of space,” the system administrator said. “Everything in our operations – from janitorial, to machine repair, to parts ordering – is based on the Datastream work order.”

He added that the deployment of Datastream 7i has been a resounding success, primarily because the company took the time up front to map out its ideal work processes and then configured the system to support those processes.

“We invested a significant amount of time with Datastream’s consultants to map out every process in our organization and to learn the system,” said the system administrator. “This was time incredibly well spent, because today the system maps exactly to our business needs.”

The company and Datastream worked together to develop a range of KPIs for all of the critical metrics. These KPIs are rendered graphically in an executive dashboard in the system. “We also love the workload inbox feature, because it gives everyone a concise list of their pending tasks,” the administrator said. “The ability to email work orders is very important to us as well, because we work with partners who do not have access to the system. This enables us to integrate them into our processes.”

To further speed the deployment process, the company chose to initially adopt Datastream 7i as a hosted solution, where the server software is maintained in Datastream’s hosting facilities. This enabled the company to gain immediate benefits from Datastream 7i while preparing for phase II of the deployment, in which it brought the application in-house so they could more tightly integrate it with other enterprise systems.

Results
With Datastream 7i, the company is now managing more than 14,000 assets and 100,000 work orders every year using a single Web-architected application. Furthermore, all of its purchasing is handled automatically through Datastream 7i Buy which has helped optimize inventory levels and reduce costs in its 40,000-item storeroom.

By having a centralized application deployed across multiple sites, the company can capture and analyze asset data across its entire operation, providing unprecedented visibility into the effectiveness of its work processes.

“We are just in the early stages of tracking our cost savings from the deployment, but I can tell you that the ability to track our processes and analyze operations is a thousand fold better than it was under the old system,” the system administrator said. “The KPIs have also made it far easier to manage the performance of our operations across all of our plants. With Datastream 7i, we have true visibility into our operations so we can identify and correct any performance issues before they impact manufacturing productivity.”

He also said he plans to use the Datastream 7i Analytics advanced module moving forward. “I’m very interested in doing ‘what if?’ scenarios so I have a firm understanding of where I’ve been, where I am and where I’m going,” he said. “This innovative capability is indicative of why we selected Datastream in the first place. They are a progressive company that is constantly introducing new products, new features and new upgrades. I would not hesitate to recommend Datastream to anyone.”