Aeroflex wins five-year service contract from Thales

In winning the MEMSII contract, Aeroflex has collaborated closely with both Thales and the French company, Trescal, which has been awarded the same contract for France, to develop a standardised set of processes and systems for its implementation. The MEMSII service has already been fully implemented in the UK and is now being extended to all the Thales Divisions in France.

“Aeroflex, in conjunction with Trescal, have come up with an extremely innovative and cost-effective service offer and we are extremely pleased to award the MEMSII contract for the UK to the company,” said Terry Padley, the MEMSII Programme Manager at Thales.

The standardised MEMSII service is based on a significant reduction in the global cost of ownership for Thales, through the ‘pooling’ of more than 70,000 test and measurement instruments. Between them, Aeroflex and Trescal provide the logistics service and a set of unified processes that ensure the management, calibration, repair and supply of equipment from the pool is handled effectively.

Aeroflex and Trescal have worked together to provide the Thales’ engineers with a dedicated web site allowing them to access, select and request equipment. Through the web site engineers can view information on the availability, technical data and calibration history for each piece of equipment. It allows the engineers to select or specify their requirement and also request help from Aeroflex and Trescal to identify the correct equipment for an application. If the equipment is not available from the ‘pool’, Thales will purchase or hire the equipment as necessary.

Continued Terry Padley: “The real benefit to our engineers is that, in return for a small usage charge, they can have the exact equipment they require, fully calibrated, for as long as they need it. When not in use, it is taken back and they no longer pay for it. The system works along the same lines as car rental.”

Commenting on the contract award, Peter Woolston, European Director of Service and Support at Aeroflex Test Solutions said: “Aeroflex is delighted to be awarded the continuing contract for test and measurement services to Thales within the UK. Throughout the past five years we have developed a very close working relationship and understanding with Thales users across the country. We have committed a significant amount of investment to making the MEMSII equipment management service as comprehensive as possible. We look forward to another five years of success supporting Thales in their drive for continuous improvement throughout its supply chain processes and developing the MEMSII foundation into other areas of mutual benefit.”