IBM Case Studies Aviation Technical Services: Enhancing Project-Level Cost Insight with Analytics

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	Aviation Technical Services: Enhancing Project-Level Cost Insight with Analytics IBM

Aviation Technical Services: Enhancing Project-Level Cost Insight with Analytics

IBM

Technology Category	Functional Applications - Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Aerospace Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions	Maintenance Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Demand Planning & Forecasting Inventory Management
Challenge	Aviation Technical Services (ATS), a leading provider of maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for commercial and military aircraft, faced a significant challenge in managing labor costs and maintaining profitability. The company operates in a highly competitive industry where clients demand the best service at the lowest price. The challenge for ATS was to balance the need for highly skilled labor, which comes at a high cost, with the need to keep labor costs as low as possible. The company was also struggling with a complex, manual, spreadsheet-based forecasting process that was holding back its finance team. The challenge was to find a more efficient way to allocate resources, manage aircraft maintenance projects more cost-effectively, and gain deeper insight into labor costs. Read More
About Customer	Aviation Technical Services (ATS) has been providing maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for commercial and military aircraft for over 45 years. Today, it employs over 1,500 employees and supports a global customer base across three business platforms: Airframe Services, Components Services, and Engineering Services. As one of the world’s leading aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) providers, ATS operates in a highly competitive industry where clients demand the best service at the lowest price. The company's success is linked to the fortunes of its clients in the airline industry, which operates on notoriously tight profit margins. Read More
Solution	ATS decided to replace its complex spreadsheet-based forecasting process with a centralized financial analytics solution. The company partnered with Applied Analytix to design and develop a sophisticated financial model that accurately allocates costs and revenues to each project. The solution, IBM® Cognos® TM1®, automatically feeds data from the company’s source systems, performs all necessary calculations, builds a financial forecast, and creates a full income statement. This provides an accurate, detailed, and timely view of profit and loss at the project level across the whole business. The solution also allows ATS to quickly develop different reporting packs for various stakeholders and generate them automatically each month. The IBM solution gives ATS much greater insight into the profitability of each of its projects, enabling more informed decision-making. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Aerospace

Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Demand Planning & Forecasting

Inventory Management

Challenge

Aviation Technical Services (ATS), a leading provider of maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for commercial and military aircraft, faced a significant challenge in managing labor costs and maintaining profitability. The company operates in a highly competitive industry where clients demand the best service at the lowest price. The challenge for ATS was to balance the need for highly skilled labor, which comes at a high cost, with the need to keep labor costs as low as possible. The company was also struggling with a complex, manual, spreadsheet-based forecasting process that was holding back its finance team. The challenge was to find a more efficient way to allocate resources, manage aircraft maintenance projects more cost-effectively, and gain deeper insight into labor costs.

About Customer

Aviation Technical Services (ATS) has been providing maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for commercial and military aircraft for over 45 years. Today, it employs over 1,500 employees and supports a global customer base across three business platforms: Airframe Services, Components Services, and Engineering Services. As one of the world’s leading aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) providers, ATS operates in a highly competitive industry where clients demand the best service at the lowest price. The company's success is linked to the fortunes of its clients in the airline industry, which operates on notoriously tight profit margins.

Solution

ATS decided to replace its complex spreadsheet-based forecasting process with a centralized financial analytics solution. The company partnered with Applied Analytix to design and develop a sophisticated financial model that accurately allocates costs and revenues to each project. The solution, IBM® Cognos® TM1®, automatically feeds data from the company’s source systems, performs all necessary calculations, builds a financial forecast, and creates a full income statement. This provides an accurate, detailed, and timely view of profit and loss at the project level across the whole business. The solution also allows ATS to quickly develop different reporting packs for various stakeholders and generate them automatically each month. The IBM solution gives ATS much greater insight into the profitability of each of its projects, enabling more informed decision-making.

Impact #1	The implementation of the IBM® Cognos® TM1® solution has brought about significant operational benefits for ATS. The company now has a single source of truth for financial analytics, delivering fast, accurate insight to support smarter labor planning. The solution has enhanced control of costs, helping to maintain margins and increase value for clients. It has also supported smarter decision-making when allocating skilled labor to projects. The solution has eliminated concerns about data accuracy, as the data comes directly from the source systems, fostering confident decision-making. The flexibility of the solution allows it to easily adapt to changes in the structure of the business, making it a sustainable choice for the company's future growth and change.

Impact #1

The implementation of the IBM® Cognos® TM1® solution has brought about significant operational benefits for ATS. The company now has a single source of truth for financial analytics, delivering fast, accurate insight to support smarter labor planning. The solution has enhanced control of costs, helping to maintain margins and increase value for clients. It has also supported smarter decision-making when allocating skilled labor to projects. The solution has eliminated concerns about data accuracy, as the data comes directly from the source systems, fostering confident decision-making. The flexibility of the solution allows it to easily adapt to changes in the structure of the business, making it a sustainable choice for the company's future growth and change.

Benefit #1	80% reduction in forecasting timescales, saving work for the finance team
Benefit #2	Significant time savings in generating year-to-date figures versus previous years, from two days to two seconds
Benefit #3	Ability to quickly develop different reporting packs for various stakeholders and generate them automatically each month

Benefit #1

80% reduction in forecasting timescales, saving work for the finance team

Benefit #2

Significant time savings in generating year-to-date figures versus previous years, from two days to two seconds

Benefit #3

Ability to quickly develop different reporting packs for various stakeholders and generate them automatically each month

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Overview

Aviation Technical Services: Enhancing Project-Level Cost Insight with Analytics

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit