The virus crisis has blocked or delayed plenty of worthwhile digital initiatives at hard-pressed airlines and MROs, but some OEMs are going forward with major improvements.
For example, De Havilland Canada plans to replace more than 300 legacy IT systems with IFS Applications 10, helping the company with its own operations and bringing benefits to its aftermarket customers.
IFS Applications 10 will be implemented in the cloud at headquarters in Toronto to support sales and order management, manufacturing, material management, procurement, and aftermarket services.
De Havilland will exploit several IFS modules, including business-intelligence analysis, multi-site planning, costing, shop-floor reporting, maintenance, project-based accounting and accounts payable e-invoices, according to Anca Preda, vice president for information technology.
Vice President, customer services and support Amod Kelkar says the new system will improve visibility across the entire supply chain, ultimately providing a better customer experience and service.
“Even in its off-the-shelf version, IFS provides most of the functionality needed for complex B2B aviation business transactions,” Kelkar adds.
“It will let customers communicate with us in a single location, enabling our internal teams to track, monitor and make decisions on customer-specific strategies via its effective CRM features. In our 24/7 global customer support model, real-time response and real-time status-sharing are two key aspects of our customer-centric culture. IFS is very strong in offering these features.”
One new customer that should benefit is All Nippon Airways, which has just signed a five-year De Havilland component solutions agreement for its 24 Dash 8-400s.
De Havilland will manage component maintenance, repair and overhaul services and provide access to a strategically located exchange pool and on-site inventory at ANA’s hub in Tokyo.
Implementation of the IFS solution will be assisted by Tsunami Tsolutions. Preda says deployment will be done in phases and estimates it will take 15 to 18 months.
De Havilland is a new company, owned by Longview Aviation Capital, that produces Dash 8-400s and supports the entire Dash 8 series of aircraft.
The conversion to a new enterprise resource planning system by a major OEM comes at a time of very mixed progress in digitalization by airlines.
For instance, Southwest Airlines has been forced to delay switchover to IFS’s Maintenix solution for its MRO division until 2021, after an already extended deployment period.
On the other hand, GE Aviation recently announced it is partnering with Air Asia to implement GE’s Network Operations Insight to reduce disruptions and cuts costs.
