MERLIN SUPPORT SYSTEM ACHIEVES PERFECT SCORE
4 March 2003
HAVANT, United Kingdom – 4 March 2003 -
For the first time ever, a major
stock and accounting audit carried out by the
Asset Accounting Centre at the Defence
Procurement Agency (DPA) has given a one hundred
per cent accuracy score to a defence logistic
support system; an unprecedented achievement.
Lockheed Martin’s Merlin
Helicopter Support and Spares Availability
System (MSSAS), based in Culdrose recently
achieved this following a strenuous set of
audits over a three-month period.
MSSAS, worth £445 million is one
of the most significant and innovative support
and spares contracts run by a company on behalf
of the MOD
in a Contractor Logistic Support (CLS)
arrangement. A fully automated system, it is
designed to support the Royal Navy’s 44 Merlin
HM Mk1 weapon systems in all respects, 365 days
a year on a worldwide basis for five years (Dec
98 – Nov 03).
The successful audit also highlighted the
benefit of Lockheed Martin’s new AuRA asset
management tool, which tracks all items whilst
in stock as well as parts to and from MOD
and
industry repair vendors. All items are visible
to the asset managers and the Depot staff at all
times and it is now the primary tool used for
the stocktaking of assets.
Ron Christenson, Group Managing
Director of Lockheed Martin UK Ltd Integrated
Systems
said: “The audit, and the use of the Spirent’s
AuRA asset management tool, positions us well in
our bid for associated asset-management IT
infrastructure work in the near future.
Additionally we are rolling out
the same stock/asset management system to the
RAF C130J IPT on behalf of Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics and will be pursuing various future
C130J and JSF support contracts utilising this
knowledge and experience.
Lockheed Martin UK
Ltd is a leader in systems integration working
on major programmes spanning the aerospace,
defence, civil and commercial sectors with
significant capabilities in the transport
infrastructure market. Lockheed Martin UK Ltd
has annual sales of approximately £600 million
and enjoys more than 75 significant business
partnerships in the UK. Lockheed Martin UK is a
unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation and employs
approximately 1,000 employees at over 20
facilities including London, Havant,
Southampton, Yeovil, Swindon, Hertford, Bristol
and Cornwall.
Notes to Editors:
As one of
the most sophisticated support and spares
organisations in existence MSSAS has a
stockholding of approximately 15,000 parts,
worth more than £100 million, with a monthly
turn-over of nearly 5000 items, making accurate
stocktaking difficult but essential, especially
for safety and airworthiness items as well as
washers and gaskets.
Interestingly, normal stock
accuracy for high-turnover items such as consumables is about
85%. Rough value of stock moves in and out each month range from
£1.5 million to £3 million.
The MSSAS contract was
years ahead of its time in that there was no reliable or
empirical data on spares usage as the EH101 airframe was
relatively new.
Lockheed Martin undertook
the contract at significant risk to itself but on the basis of
sophisticated computer modeling.
MSSAS is logistically
intelligent system, which automatically identifies line items
that require replenishment and will order the required parts in
good time to allow repairs to be made at minimum impact to
operations.
Additionally, MSSAS
constantly monitors and evaluates the performance of every major
component and can identify parts that may need design
alterations or improvements in order to make them more
effective. The DPA’s, Asset Accounting Centre conducted the
audit of MSSAS on behalf of the Merlin IPT.
Contact:
Jeremy Greaves, on: +44(0)2392 44 3977 (mob)
+44(0)7887 506338 email:
jeremy.greaves@lmco.com
or
Chris Trippick +44(0)23 9244 3739 (mob) +44
(0)7905 356 646 or email:
chris.trippick@lmco.com
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