Lawson Software has secured a major contract for its M3 7.1 application suite to run on an i5 model 520, supplied by Business Partner Syan and replacing Intel-based systems.

Signed in late June with aircraft maintenance organisation ATC Lasham Ltd, the first phase of the system is planned to go live in March 2008 and the second phase in the summer. Syan also offers hosting services, but ATC Lasham chose to handle all work on its own site in Hampshire.

ATC Lasham has a turnover of $75m and customers include most of the major European airlines along with low-cost, charter, freight and cargo companies. Incorporated in 1994, the company’s headquarters, based at Lasham Airfield in Hampshire, was established by Dan-Air in 1954 and has for over 30 years been used for the heavy maintenance of Boeing aircraft. In 2003, due to business expansion, it added a second site at London Southend Airport, Southend-on-Sea, primarily for the maintenance of Europe’s expanding Airbus fleet.

The company had been running an in-house-developed system in one site and a 12-year-old packaged solution in the other, neither of which could be developed to satisfy its market requirements. It needed to find a solution that would enable common processes across both its sites, and provide simple, seamless integration. The Lawson M3 suite is expected to aid greater visibility across the entire business, better management of stock levels, and, through implementation of Lawson Business Intelligence, real-time information for management reporting.

“Lawson was able to demonstrate a real understanding of our business needs and deliver a proven solution that specifically matches the stringent regulatory requirements of our industry,” says Andy Finch, general manager of ATC Lasham. “The fact that the Lawson M3 software is specifically tailored to the needs of a maintenance business, and can be scaled as we grow our business, means we now have a future-proof solution.”     

Until now, ATC Lasham had operated an Intel platform but decided to opt for IBM and the i520 as it will provide the company with a ‘one-box’ solution that more closely matches its back-up, recovery and scalability requirements.

“We were able to supply a solution that mirrored the functional fit of ATC Lasham’s maintenance, repair and overhaul business,” says Travis White, senior vice president strategy and planning, EMEA, Lawson. “As well as having to meet the needs of a highly regulated industry sector, the new solutions will help facilitate management decision-making across all aspects of ATC Lasham’s maintenance operations.”

 
ATC Lasham chose the i520-based solution from a final shortlist of three, replacing its old bespoke DOS-based system and packaged Intel client-server application. There are some 200 users spread across its sites accessing the system, covering all aspects from maintenance engineering to finance and administration, procurement and inventory management. To aid the implementation process, the company will deploy the Lawson Learning Accelerator training tool.

Lawson’s vice president marketing of EMEA, Martin Hill, explains: “This tool is used to capture learning scenarios so users can learn remotely or through using CDs. There’s a package of standard learning modules so you get to learn basic functions and core processes, and there’s also the opportunity for companies to build their own learning packages for specific configurations they implement.”

“ATC Lasham opted for System i for reasons of reliability, uptime, simplicity of the solution and cost of ownership,” adds Hill. “The company appreciated the fact System i could run the application and web-based user interface on the same box, plus an output management solution and a document management application -- of rigorous importance in aircraft maintenance work.

“Indeed, ATC Lasham took up our reference sites from our existing customer base in the MRO business -- CHC Helicopters, TAT in France, SAS in Scandinavia and Messier in France. We were also able to show the company how we deliver solutions for industry generally. What came across for ATC Lasham too was the scalability of the System i range, and how much better it is in cost of ownership factors over other platforms.”

Frank Booty