Providing enterprise solutions

Citation

(1999), "Providing enterprise solutions", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 71 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1999.12771bab.009

Providing enterprise solutions

Providing enterprise solutions

Keywords Baan, Software

Baan Company, a provider of business software, has announced that, in recent months, four leading aerospace and defence companies worldwide have selected Baan Company ERP software with A&D extensions to streamline business processes. This continuing momentum signals a strong acceptance of Baan Company as a key provider of ERP solutions for the aerospace and defence industries and as a market leader in this rapidly expanding marketplace. In recent months, more than 15 global leaders in aerospace and defence have implemented Baan Company's ERP software with A&D extensions, and over 30 companies are using Baan ERP in aerospace and defence worldwide.

Baan Company says it is dedicated to providing enterprise solutions that help customers in aerospace and defence and other industries streamline and integrate all their key enterprise-wide processes including product manufacturing and delivery, sales, engineering, project management, procurement, manufacturing, quality control, contract management, finance, logistics and distribution. Baan Company has received significant orders from global companies, including GKN Westland Aerospace Transmissions, British Aerospace Military Aircraft and Aerostructures, Dassault Electronique, and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.

"Baan ERP software with A&D extensions delivers a single commercial ERP software solution that addresses the complexity of the defense industry while ensuring the flexibility and cost-effectiveness needed to compete in the commercial and defence market", said John Wilkerson, global vice president and general manager, Baan Aerospace & Defence. "The result is end-to-end support of both defence and commercial business processes. Customers can respond more quickly to their changing needs by effectively using real-time information throughout the value chain."

Michael Askew, director and general manager, GKN Westland Aerospace Transmissions, explains the reason for selecting Baan Company software: "We chose Baan Company for its excellent implementation methodology. Baan Company makes it easier than most suppliers to manage and control a project like ours. The implementation of Baan Company applications is fast and flexible where other ERP systems are unwieldy. In addition, with Baan, we can quickly upgrade our system with the latest Baan Company business software without disrupting operations.

"Second, our ability to estimate the success of the project was very important. By taking a package which was already proven, we minimised the risk of failure. Third, having seen the features of the Baan Company software we are convinced that this system will become the industry-standard ERP system", Askew concluded.

British Aerospace Military Aircraft and Aerostructures (BAe MA&A) is replacing more than 200 legacy computer systems with Baan ERP to provide an integrated solution supporting 5,000 users at its seven sites.

According to Ross Bradley, project director, Operational Efficiency Improvement Programme, BAe MA&A: "We expect that Baan ERP with A&D extensions will help transform our current business practices and give us the flexibility to define and support future requirements to meet ever increasing competition within the aerospace sector. We anticipate that the new business processes and IT system will have a dramatic impact on our production efficiency, allowing our customers to see benefits in faster production cycles and reduced operational costs."

Dassault Electronique, one of Europe's leading defence electronics companies, chose Baan Company with A&D extensions over SAP and Oracle to automate over 1,000 users. Baan Company will link its software with ENOVIA PM Product Data Management software to control the company's manufacturing and purchasing process. Dassault Electronique expects this will provide it with seamless data integration and an intuitive graphical user interface, and enable it to take advantage of industry best practices.

Marc Fornari, programme manager, explains why Dassault Electronique chose Baan Company: "The people at Baan Company had a very good understanding of our business and that was reflected in the fact that the Baan Company approach was best suited to our project and contract management requirements in the defence sector. We were also very impressed by the ability of Baan Company Dynamic Enterprise Modeling (BaanDEM) to integrate our business processes. Baan Company enables us to manage our manufacturing and purchasing activities from a unique management programme and maintains the integrity of our data".

Arne Olsen, project leader, Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, explains why Baan Company was chosen: "No other system had specific aerospace and defence functionality. Our needs are very different from traditional corporations because, for example, our customers are the military and national governments. Our basic requirement was to have a fast implementation that would provide basic functionality immediately and enable us to improve and expand the system easily. Using Baan Company Dynamic Enterprise Modeling (DEM) we have implemented the system in build on the system and develop it according to our business needs."

Founded in 1978, Baan Company is a global provider of enterprise business software. Baan Company's comprehensive portfolio of best-in-class, component-based applications for front office, corporate office, and back office automation is in use at over 7,000 customer sites worldwide. Baan Company's products claim to reduce complexity, improve core business processes, are faster to implement and use, more flexible in adapting to business changes and optimize the management of information throughout the entire value chain.

Baan ERP with A&D extensions supports critical defence standards and delivers comprehensive contract management and invoicing functionality as well as unit/serial effectivity, multi-level pegging, group planning, inventory co-mingling, actual costing, moving average unit costing and permanent/temporary material transfer. The result is end-to-end support of both defence and commercial business processes. Customers can respond more quickly to their changing needs by effectively using real-time information throughout the value chain.

Baan Company has dual headquarters in Barneveld, The Netherlands and Reston, Virginia, USA and can be found on the World Wide Web at www.baan.com

Further details from Baan Aerospace & Defence. Tel: 00 1 770 998 6160; E-mail: swilliam@baan.com