BAE System Spares Expands

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft and Ansett Aircraft Spares & Services, announced the first step in developing a long-term relationship, having signed an agreement under which Ansett will relocate its current operations and inventory at Heathrow to the BAE Systems facility at Weybridge. Inventory includes...

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BAE Systems Regional Aircraft and Ansett Aircraft Spares & Services, announced the first step in developing a long-term relationship, having signed an agreement under which Ansett will relocate its current operations and inventory at Heathrow to the BAE Systems facility at Weybridge. Inventory includes spares for civil aircraft of all major commercial aircraft manufacturers.
Additionally, Ansett also purchased a substantial amount of surplus BAE 146/Avro RJ spares from Regional Aircraft to add to its existing inventory. This will enhance the company’s ability to support its expanding marketing strategy for growth in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Ansett has comprehensive inventories of spares maintained at its Sales and Distribution Centers in Heathrow; Melbourne, Australia; and Los Angeles. Additionally, to efficiently serve its customers, the company has an established and growing network of Sales/Customer Service Centers which are strategically located in close proximity to important markets.
Sean McGovern, Operations Director for Regional Aircraft, said: “This agreement with Ansett Aircraft Spares & Services is a major step forward for us and builds upon the restructuring we have undertaken in our own spares operations in the past year. Ansett is the first company to join us at Weybridge and we look forward to ensuring that their tenure at the facility is highly successful.”
Under the agreement, Ansett has leased dedicated office and warehouse facilities at BAE System’s Weybridge Spares and Logistics Center (SLC) and Ansett staff will retain full operational responsibility for the management and shipping of its spares into and out of the facility. Regional Aircraft will provide warehouse space and handling services for Ansett’s heavy, oversized components at its Prestwick Logistics Centre facility in Scotland.
Established in 1958, Ansett Aircraft Spares & Services has supported aviation companies for half a century. Ansett is an authorized distributor and stockist of leading OEMs and carries a wide range of factory new inventory and supports all major commercial aircraft manufacturers, in particular, Airbus, Boeing, BAE Systems, Bombardier and Fokker. In addition, it holds a vast quantity of fully traceable expendables and new, overhauled and serviceable rotables, fully certified to FAA/JAA standards

BAE Spares Reorganized
After conducting an extensive review, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft closed its North American spares division in Herndon, Va. in mid-2007 in favor of consolidation at its Weybridge facility in England. Even so, the Herndon office remains open for Asset Management sales and leasing activities.
The review was prompted by changing market dynamics in Regional Aircraft’s customer base. It outlined those changes fleet fragmentation into smaller operators was a new feature, combined with a wider geographic dispersal of operators and a movement away from North America as a prime home for the company’s products.
The review also revealed that new investment was needed at Weybridge and that IT and process improvements were necessary to meet the demanding expectations of customers. Slow moving stock and large items needed to be moved away from Weybridge and surplus spares stock needed to be sold, ensuring that the right stock needed by customers was the priority. The aim is to turn the SLC at Weybridge into a high-turnover, fast-moving warehouse operation and, with the new space created, offer opportunities for third-party companies such as its new deal with Ansett.
The current business provides spares support for around 800 aircraft worldwide and has a yearly turnover of some $150 million. It provides a continuing spares sales and AOG (aircraft on ground) service operated from its Prestwick, Scotland, headquarters and with warehousing and logistics located at Weybridge.
It also has a growing e-business selling spares on the Web. It operates ‘spares by the hour’ services with 180 aircraft enrolled on to its JetSpares (jets) and MACRO (turboprop) programs and is enjoying increasing success selling its logistics expertise to third parties.
The results of the reviews have been gradually implemented across the spares support business over the past year with the following changes resulting:
• The appointment of Saywell International as Regional Aircraft’s sole distributor of spares for these aircraft from early February 2008. Stock transfer is underway from Weybridge to Saywell’s Worthing, UK and Florida facilities. Both companies believe the transfer will result in a better, more focused, service to the smaller operators in the now geographically fragmented Jetstream 31/32 market;
• £250,000 has been invested in a new Kardex Shuttle XPlus Carousel automated storage system at SLC. This state-of-the-art equipment reduces floor space by 90 percent compared to conventional racking and is fully linked into Regional Aircraft’s IT systems;
• RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) mobile bar-code scanners have been introduced to the SLC, resulting in much quicker, more effective use of operators’ time, significant stock accuracy and ‘pick’ efficiency;
• More space has been created at the SLC through the removal of slow moving and large items to the Prestwick Logistics Centre and the sale of surplus stock;
• These changes mean that Regional Aircraft is now better positioned to offer quality long-term sustainable spares support services for its core BAe 146/Avro RJ, ATP and Jetstream 41 markets. A continuing program of investment in new equipment and processes is also being implemented. Marketing for both shared facilities at Weybridge or operations and logistics services on behalf of third parties is being increased.