Aeroflex awarded A|D|S 21st Century Supply Chains Silver Award

The SC21 program is administered by A|D|S, the national trade organization dedicated to advancing the UK aerospace, defence, security, and space industries globally. SC21 aims to accelerate the competitiveness of the aerospace and defense industry by encouraging the participation of companies of all sizes throughout the UK supply chain in its modernization program, to meet the challenge of the increasing level of international competition.

The improvements introduced by ATES, across its sites in Stevenage and Donibristle in the UK, include increased employee engagement to the standards of 5S, a subset of Lean Six-Sigma, and the launch of a Continuous Sustainable Improvement Plan (CSIP) that involves ATES’ customers in helping to improve the company’s performance and efficiency.

“Aeroflex is the first calibration and test equipment service company to be granted an SC21 award, and this reinforces our leading position in that market,” commented Chris Eames, general manager of ATES. “We were sponsored for the award by Thales, one of our key asset management customers, and we have already seen huge benefits from the initiative in terms of employee morale as well as enhancements to the efficiency of the service that we deliver to our customers.”

ATES provides a full asset management service for Thales, assisting them in the procurement of new test and measurement equipment for both production and R&D, storing the equipment for them, keeping it calibrated, and allocating it to the different divisions of the company as required.

“The services that Aeroflex provide us with are important to the smooth running of our operations,” said Paul Egan, Thales UK Purchasing Manager. “Mentoring ATES through the SC21 process has resulted in high levels of performance that can be sustained in the long term, bringing important benefits to both companies.”