Airbus Aircabin racks up engineering, production and business efficiency for A380 on SAP

Airbus aircraft interiors manufacturer Aircabin has now completed its mySAP PLM (product lifecycle management) project, which substantially augments its existing considerable SAP ERP systems, within the nine-month target. The company says its implementation is already proving itself – streamlining financial, engineering, production and planning operations necessary to manage larger-scale projects, and in particular the new Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft. Airbus Aircabin says it needed to expand its engineering and production capacity and efficiency to keep up with industry demands. “To effectively manage this crucial phase of rapid growth, we needed an enterprise solution that included end-to-end project management and timely financial reporting based on reliable information,” says Alfons Braig, IT manager, Airbus Aircabin. “SAP is the only solution provider that covers our requirements across these key operations, enabling us to efficiently manage business processes, keep to tight production schedules and increase our competitive advantage,” he adds. In fact, the project was part of a company-wide rollout of the SAP for Aerospace & Defence integrated application set – and was handled internally with guidance only from SAP’s consulting arm. The company chose to go the integrated solutions route in favour of ‘best of breed’ alternatives, and it’s fair to say that its claimed results prove the judgement in this case at least. Although unwilling to provide numbers, the company says mySAP PLM has enhanced visibility and flexibility across what are inevitably becoming increasingly complex production operations, while simultaneously improving project planning, tracking and control. It has also improved reporting, staffing, budgeting and claim management processes across all functions. For example, Airbus Aircabin can now track and monitor all project elements – including production schedules, parts, materials and suppliers – across all levels of the manufacturing process, from planning and engineering through purchasing and production, quality control and clearance for serial production. Additionally, all project-related costs are posted, allowing comprehensive control of planned costs and actuals. Incidentally, it also gets better financial reporting – also a requirement of tighter integration into the Airbus company – through mySAP Business Intelligence, while SAP Business Information Warehouse provides users with role-based access to further analysis and reporting across sales, production, quality control, procurement, development and accounts. Beyond that, the open infrastructure in mySAP PLM allows Airbus Aircabin to centralise all its product- and project-related information under one repository, providing immediate access to up-to-date product information for all users. It can also integrate end-to-end operations, including technical, logistic and financial information, across virtual teams. The firm reckons that data sharing translates into more efficient and cost-effective management of BoMs (bills of materials), routing and resource data, project structures and related technical documentation throughout the entire product life cycle.