Burlington, MA December 17, 2002 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is set to use a solution from provider Enigma to manage the integration and delivery of critical repair and service information to the 3,500 engineers and mechanics who maintain KLM's fleet of more than 100 Boeing aircraft.
The implementation, based on Enigma's 3C Version 8 technology, will be deployed via the Web, with CD-ROM as a backup, and will supply all the necessary technical data to fuel maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations at KLM. The airline's maintenance application will deliver and continuously update more than 15 GBs of data pulled from disparate sources across the airline's services and support organizations.
Enigma said its solution, deployed with assistance from IBM Business Consulting Services, will enable KLM to move away from the costly and time-consuming MRO publication management processes currently in place.
With the Enigma solution, KLM's mechanics will have direct access to maintenance information, including technical manuals, illustrated parts catalogs and engineering orders that come from both Boeing and the airline, all in one searchable application. The idea is to ensure that KLM's mechanics have access to the most accurate information, with the expectation that this will help drive down the time and cost of aircraft maintenance and boost the overall efficiency of the airline's MRO operations.
Rutger Pannekoek, IT project manager of KLM, cited Enigma's ability to manage the volume and diversity of information required to keep the airline's fleet running smoothly, as well as the solution's ability to provide maintainers with the specific data they need at the moment they need it. "KLM has built its reputation on reliability, and to ensure that we remain the industry leader on this point, we must have highly effective maintenance and repair processes in place," Pannekoek said.
Initially, the Enigma solution will be deployed at KLM's main MRO facility at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. The initial implementation of 3C will include integration with KLM's Documentum-based content management system, with SAP integration being considered for a later phase. In practical terms, this means KLM will automate and integrate the delivery of content from seven different manuals that currently guide the maintenance and repair process.
Enigma's other aerospace customers include GE Aircraft Engines, Pratt & Whitney and Japan Airlines.
For more information on solutions for the service and support chain, see the article "In the Field and All Grown Up", the Net Best Thing column in the June 2002 issue of iSource Business.
