Air transport e-marketplace to offer integrated planning and procurement solutions

Citation

(2001), "Air transport e-marketplace to offer integrated planning and procurement solutions", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 73 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2001.12773daf.004

Air transport e-marketplace to offer integrated planning and procurement solutions

Air transport e-marketplace to offer integrated planning and procurement solutionsKeywords: Aerospan.com; Xelus

Aerospan.com (Wood Dale, IL, USA) and Xelus, Inc. (Rochester, NY, USA) inform us that they intend to form a strategic alliance that will combine the benefits of Aerospan's marketplace technology with Xelus' enterprise service management solutions.

Under the relationship, Xelus solutions for service inventory planning and forecasting will be provided to users of the Aerospan e-marketplace. This will, we are told, give Aerospan customers access to a complete, integrated solution for planning and procurement of airline technical materials.

"Aerospan continues to focus on delivering what customers want – a real e-business solution that provides immediate real benefits. Our e-marketplace already has a global customer base and a solid parts inventory listing that's at over 230 per month. We wanted to provide our customers with an integrated solution for planning as well as procurement of their spare parts inventory, and by strategically aligning with Xelus, we are able to do just that", commented Duncan Alexander, Aerospan CEO.

According to Aerospan it already enables its customers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations by streamlining transactions for aviation technical materials while reducing inventory level and costs. The Aerospan.com e-marketplace features spare parts inventory listing services; online availability of spare part traceability documentation: multiple ways to buy and sell; requests for quotes (RFQs); direct negotiation; buying from the original manufacturer (OEM); and seller or reverse auctions. Xelus solutions are said to bring added value to the marketplace by allowing users to create a unified, intelligent plan for supply, demand, and deployment of aircraft MRO materials. They claim to enable planners to efficiently handle extremely large number of items and locations in the MRO network, significantly improving decision-making on critical inventory forecasting and deployment. It is believed that the ability to streamline the entire planning and procurement process will lead to even greater inventory reductions, service levels improvements and cost savings.

"There is tremendous opportunity in the air transport industry for the leading edge enterprise service management solutions Xelus provides", said Mike Fabiaschi, Xelus president and CEO. "Xelus has a proven track record of helping airlines, aircraft manufacturers, parts distributors and service providers to substantially reduce costs while improving their ability to service their aircraft. by helping them intelligently manage their inventory levels. We are looking forward to working with Aerospan to bring these benefits to the air transportation industry through Aerospan's neutral, comprehensive e-market. This solution will be especially attractive to mid-sized and smaller airlines because it offers comprehensive service management solutions with a fast return on investment."

Further details are available from Aerospan, Tel: +44 (0) 20 8757 8024; E-mail: karl.moore@sita.int or Xelus, Tel +1 716 419 3317; E-mail lisa_schaert@xelus.com