New system to be deployed at eight U.S. manufacturing plants by end of 2004
Richmond, British Columbia — August 24, 2004 — Bell Helicopter, a Textron Co. headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, and leading supplier of military and commercial helicopters, said today it has selected Epic Data's P3 Materials Management System (P3-MMS) to manage the movement of parts throughout its manufacturing facilities.
The contract, valued at $1.3 million, will supply Bell Helicopter with Epic Data's P3-MMS at Bell's eight manufacturing plants throughout the United States by the end of 2004.
Epic Data claimed that P3-MMS will enable Bell Helicopter to reduce work-in-process inventory by achieving greater accuracy in parts accountability and visibility of materials movement throughout the company's manufacturing supply chain. The visibility and accuracy will be a result of the tracking system designed within MMS.
The solution will include the MMS Advanced Authorization Server (ASA), which allows suppliers to log in and receive pre-authorization for materials orders before they are shipped, gives advanced shipment notifications, and ensures proper certification documentation is included with deliveries.
"Bell Helicopter is pleased to add another Epic Data solution to our shop floor. We've been able to improve operations with Epic's data capture system. Now, we're anticipating even further results with the implementation of MMS," stated Ronnie Branscome, director, Logistics/Distribution at Bell Helicopter.
"As a long time data-capture solution provider for Bell Helicopter, we are delighted to see Bell Helicopter take the next step to improving their manufacturing operations," said Peter Murphy, president and CEO of Epic Data.
Epic Data's other manufacturing customers include Bombardier, CAE, Flextronics, General Dynamics Electric Boat, Komatsu, Lockheed Martin Aerospace, Siemens and Volvo.
