Quick Wins Follow On-Time it Go-Live at DARA
2 december 2002
DARA, the UK's Defence Aviation Repair Agency, is reporting significant business and customer service benefits just three months after the completion, on time and within budget, of a £20 million total it transformation by consulting and technology partner Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. DARA maintains and repairs Britain's military aircraft and recently won new freedom to seek customers in commercial aviation and overseas markets, together with new responsibility for its own financial performance.
Steve Hill, Chief Executive of DARA, said: 'We've already seen big improvements in turnaround times on major contracts, but equally important when you are competing in international aerospace markets, we are now better able to give our customers rapid and accurate quotations, and to keep them advised of progress with integrated, up-to-the-minute information.'
Time taken for a full maintenance on a VC10 tanker aircraft has been reduced from 155 to 89 days, while the time for servicing a Sea King helicopter transmission has been cut from 185 to 57 days.
The new Cap Gemini Ernst & Young systems are replacing some 52 disparate it systems inherited by DARA from its predecessors. The new systems are fully integrated and cover all aspects of DARA's work at its South Wales HQ and its satellite sites across the UK, including the planning, production, supply chain, commercial and financial functions. They are based on customised versions of the Baan ERP suite.
In addition to planning and implementing the new it systems, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young also helped DARA re-engineer its business processes to gain maximum potential from the new technology and, in a separate £19 million contract, will be responsible for running the new systems on an outsourcing basis.
A key feature of the new it support at DARA is its ability to adapt rapidly to changing needs. Steve Hill said: 'We can now quickly expand or contract different parts of our business to meet varying market requirements, and we have it that is powerful and flexible enough to support new ventures without the costs and delays of investing in new systems.'