Chelton Radomes supports business change with Made2Manage

Keywords: Aerospace industry, Costs, Technology, Customers

As the aerospace industry increases its focus on cost reduction, suppliers such as Chelton Radomes are under pressure to meet increasingly stringent technical and customer demands in fixed cost projects. With only six months to achieve the implementation, Chelton Radomes' choice of the Made2Manage ERP solution has provided the company with a flexible platform that is supporting diverse business needs and delivering significant efficiencies throughout the organisation. Freelance journalist Emma Mansell-Lewis investigates.

Founded in the 1960's, Chelton Radomes is an 85-strong business unit,recently acquired by Chelton, part of the Cobham Group, from BAE Systems (BAES),which manufactures radomes and microwave components for both military and commercial applications. Chelton Radomes is currently preparing for full scale Eurofighter production. Eurofighter is the next generation European Fighter aircraft due to enter service this year. It is the largest military project in Europe and Chelton Radomes plays a key role in the supply of the nose radome and other radomes. Chelton Radomes is the lead contractor and sole supplier of primary nose radomes for Harrier, Hawk, Nimrod, and Tornado aircraft and for Rapier and Seawolf missile systems. In addition the business has a fast growing repair centre that provides maintenance services for commercial airlines.

In common with most industries, aerospace is undergoing significant change in a bid to strip out cost from the process of designing, testing and building aircraft. This has resulted in a gradual shift towards fixed price projects,resulting in the need for improved budgetary control throughout the business.

However, as Neil Broughton, quality & operational systems manager at Chelton Radomes explains, there is no room for compromise on process integrity."The quality of the final product is very important, particularly the products we make which are reusable over time: the process from initial concept, through design, development, production and in-service support can span 50 years."

Indeed, Chelton Radomes is currently working on the airframes that will constitute the next generation of aircraft after the Eurofighter. Throughout this time, Chelton has to meet the challenging technical and customer demands,while assessing which new technologies may become robust enough to be included in the product during the design and development timeframe.

He confirms, "We are currently looking at where technology might go in 20 to 30 years time. There is a lot of interest in stealth technology which enables aircraft to fly without being picked up by radar, and commensurate drivers on the radar side to improve tracking technology."

The move from BAES to Cobham brought many changes for Chelton Radomes, not least the transition from BAES department with access to central HR and finance resources to a stand alone, limited company, with a requirement to produce annual accounts.

Prior to being sold by BAES, Chelton had implemented Baan, one of BAES's approved ERP solutions and it was keen to retain this functionality after the move. However, having outsourced its IT infrastructure to CSC, when the move to Cobham occurred, Chelton Radomes had to make some serious decisions about its IT strategy.

Having opted to bring its IT functionality in house, Chelton Radomes needed to implement an ERP solution to replace the system used at BAES. Trevor Cook,managing director at Chelton Radomes explains, "We did consider staying with Baan. However, whilst it is a very capable package, it is extremely complex and forced us in certain directions. We wanted an ERP solution with the flexibility to enable us to be masters of our own destiny."

In addition, cost was a major factor. As part of BAES, Chelton Radomes had enjoyed a multi-site deal. "As a stand alone company the price was not acceptable for a business of this size," Trevor confirms.

Instead, having reviewed the market, Chelton Radomes opted for Made2Manage, a flexible ERP solution already successfully implemented at sister Chelton Radomes company, Nurad in the US. Made2Manage (M2M) is a fully integrated,enterprise-wide system designed to be the only business software small and mid-sized manufacturers require, integrating all aspects of the traditional supply chain and the emerging E-economy.

Trevor explains, "The simplicity and ease of use of M2M was a key consideration. In addition, it provided the broad functionality we needed at an acceptable cost to the business."

Having opted for M2M in April 2000, Chelton Radomes had only six months to implement the solution prior to its outsourced IT contract running out with CSC. The software was implemented by distributor NCR, using M2M's Time2Value rapid implementation approach to meet the deadline.

Time2Value provides a 'blueprint' that shortens the time taken by a company to achieve a return on its investment, maximising the company's overall performance through increased levels of productivity and profitability.

Says Neil, "NCR's consultancy was also invaluable, enabling us to exploit the full functionality of Made2Manage." It was fundamental to implement the new ERP solution without compromising business performance. Thus, as far as possible the company opted to replicate existing processes but, on advice from NCR, took the opportunity to simplify some of the more complex processes. This enabled Chelton Radomes to extend the usage of M2M throughout the organisation, empowering staff and resulting in improved efficiencies.

A key challenge was migrating corporate data from Baan to M2M. Says Broughton, "NCR successfully managed the migration of static data such as Bill of Materials, Routing and Item Masters using M2M's Time2Value tools."

The implementation of M2M was completed on time and has provided Chelton Radomes with a cost effective ERP solution that supports existing business processes and delivers additional benefits.

In particular, the company has found its flexibility and ease of use invaluable in supporting the different business models required as the aerospace industry moves from traditional 'cost plus' to fixed price contracts. "Under the'cost plus' model, we were subject to regular inspections from clients. As the industry moves towards fixed costs, Chelton Radomes is looking at the broader picture, flagging up problems rather than checking everything," says Neil. "In the interim, which will doubtless encompass several years, we have to support both 'cost plus' and fixed cost structures. The flexibility of M2M means we can manage both types of contract without compromise."

Additionally Chelton Radomes is able to use M2M to support the very different needs of the civil repair business. "The repair centre has a completely different business model with a fast turnaround. In the past, IT solutions that have supported Chelton Radomes' core business have constrained the repair centre. With M2M we have been able to deliver a solution that supports both military and civil aircraft repair."

A key consideration for Chelton Radomes was the need to produce financial accounts for the first time and management accounts to meet the requirements of the new parent company. Says Neil, "Made2Manage has significantly improved Chelton's financial reporting."

Previously, the finance team of three people spent approximately one week of every month in producing monthly reports. Now, with the ability to track data as it is entered, corrections can be made in real time and reports printed in one afternoon, providing Chelton Radomes with improved financial control. As a result, the half yearly reporting process was condensed to one afternoon, a significant time saving for the company. He says, "Monthly reports are now available a week earlier and finance can spend effort in managing the direction of the business rather than reporting on past performance."

Chelton Radomes is now beginning to exploit M2M to deliver further efficiencies in the design, development and production processes. The primary benefit is an improvement in linking engineering instructions to shop floor paperwork. In the past, delays in updating the Planning, Route Cards and Bill of Materials have led to data inconsistencies in the business.

Neil explains, "A Eurofighter radome is a complex project with planning alone running to over 30 pages and, in the past, any change to the quantity in the Bill of Materials forced a change in both Planning and Route Card. As a result,changes were stored and updated in batches, often weeks after they were initially made."

Exploiting M2M's ease of use, Chelton Radomes has introduced a fast track change process that does not require all three documents to be updated. "This process is providing up-to-date paperwork on the shop floor, resulting in more accurate purchasing, accurate costs and consistent project reports," he says.

Neil believes that as the level of accuracy of information improves throughout the organisation, Chelton Radomes will increasingly drive business decisions from the consistent data held within M2M. "For the first time Chelton Radomes has a consistent reporting platform that is trusted throughout the organisation," he says. "M2M is providing the information we need to drive business change, our challenge is to exploit that information source for business advantage."

For example, the company is using M2M to automate the production of Certificates of Conformance for customers, replacing traditional re-keying processes.

The company is currently in the process of introducing M2M shop floor data collection using bar coding. In the first phase of the project Chelton is improving efficiency by using bar codes to improve the process of picking inventory from the 20-30 page list. Looking forward, the company will then use bar coding for labour entry to provide up-to- the-minute job costing information. "Currently we work on a weekly job cost basis. Using bar coding for labour will enable Chelton to improve real time management of jobs," he confirms.

This implementation of additional, integrated software packages is being supplemented by a focus on exploiting the management reporting within M2M. Trevor explains, "Chelton Radomes' goal is to create one integrated system with M2M that provides total visibility of the radome manufacturing process from design through production to the customer. Real time access to information, such as inventory and job costing, will enable Chelton Radomes to proactively address any issues that arise during the process, improving the overall productivity and efficiency of the company."

Trevor concludes, "M2M offers great value without any sacrifices in functionality. The software is a far better fit for our business operation and supports our growth under new ownership."

Details available from:, Made2Manage Europe, Tel: +44 (0)1784 895 035;Website: www.made2manage.com