Highly flexible delivery models to respond to our clients’ challenges

Against a backdrop of fierce global economic competition, airline companies and the states in which they operate need to increase production capacities, improve the supply chain, reduce operating costs, design and propose high added-value services to stand out from competitors.

At the same time, their aircraft must be ultra-communicative, with the latest on-board technology for passengers and pilots alike. It is therefore vital for players in the aeronautics industry to optimise processes and information systems.

Why SITS?

SITS is delivering IT services to Aerospace and Defence leading companies such as Airbus Group, Safran Group, Thales and Dassault.

Our experience

  • The first IT provider to Airbus Group (Airbus, Airbus Helicopter and Airbus D&S)
  • Delivering key projects and support for finance, MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul), training, technical documentations, customer services – with more than 400 people working within engineering, including embedded software, simulation, flight tests
  • Business consulting for supply chains and HR domains 
  • Working with the French MoD and for the A400M programme

Global delivery network

In order to rationalise and industrialise its production, SITS has service centres here in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and India. These service centres meet response and cost requirements, and, at the same time, satisfy safety obligations.

This industrialisation allows for extensive flexibility in adapting to required changes in load plans, cost reduction and improving the quality of service to the satisfaction of business lines.

Airbus 

Airbus, one of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, awarded a 3-year contract to SITS for the development of the electric flight control secondary computer for the A380.

SITS tasks

At the end of 2001, SITS was entrusted with the development of the electric flight control secondary computer for the A380.

Since that time, the Avionics and Simulation Products Department has extended the scope of activity and the level of responsibility of SITS onboard IT experts.

Extended scope of activity for critical applications

SITS supplies computers for the various Airbus aircraft programmes of the highest possible standard of reliability and robustness. SITS handles:

  • The development of flight control computers for the A350 and the maintenance of flight control software for 6 aircraft programmes, including the A380
  • The development and maintenance of automatic code generators for all aircraft programmes
  • Development of the A400M alarm management computer
  • Development and maintenance of part of the simulation development workshops and tools and all onboard software development workshops and tools
  • The integration of «non-critical» applications for the A350 (ground maintenance computer, passenger internet access etc.)

A higher level of responsibility

In early 2009, part of the scope of activity was shifted to a global outsourcing basis. SITS is therefore entirely responsible for the development of computers from the specification phase to the EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) certification phase.

Our view

“In addition to structuring certification constraints, onboard IT includes reliability and performance requirements callingfor full expertise over the processes and technology implemented.

Onboard software occupies an ever-increasing place in daily life and is an eminently buoyant sector. SITS teams take particular pride in the support and assistance they have provided to AIRBUS in this sector for close to 10 years now, with increased loyalty.”
Olivier DARRICARRERE
STIE (Scientific, Technical, Engineering and Onboard) Manager, SITS

Transforming IT project management with a focus on continuous improvement based on performance measurement and benchmarking.

Challenge summary

Airbus is one of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, designing, building, marketing and maintaining the most advanced passenger aircraft.

Its Airbus IM division manages a broad portfolio of more than 300 applications supporting Finance, Corporate and Aircraft Programme Management, Enterprise Content Management, Business Intelligence and Value Chain Visibility. Expansion in the airline industry and a need to keep pace with IT trends saw Airbus seeking a fast transformation of its information systems. This would support a growing production rate and reduce time-to-market.

Applications harmonisation and optimisation, as well as the alignment of project management practices to deliver faster, cheaper and better, were crucial to this transformation.

Our solution

Airbus IM sought a partner to supply a bundled project management service built around a catalogue of services. Already working with a number of other Airbus divisions, IT-enabled service provider SITS proposed an innovative partnership-based solution.

SITS would share the risk of IT project delivery and made an investment in the continuous transformation of the IT-governance model. This aimed to improve the global performance of all stakeholders.

The solution comprised:

  • Project management from initiation to completion, including management of development contractors
  • Responsibility for defining business needs and system architectures
  • Responsibility for validation testing and acceptance support, as well as solution rollout

Results and benefits

In outsourcing its project management tasks to us, Airbus IM is free to focus on portfolio management in conjunction with its customers within Airbus. A number of business benefits are accruing, including:

  • Reduced time-to-market with the ability to ramp up and down project resources to match demand
  • Improved IT project quality and best practice consistency in an industrialised framework of processes and tools. These are based on IT best practices, such as CobIT, CMMi, eSCM, Lean PPM, NSP, Six Sigma, etc
  • Reduced global costs at portfolio level due to shared, repeatable and optimised processes
  • Price transparency with a 100% fixed price catalogue for project management, architecture consulting, testing and deployment
  • Shared risks and objectives between both companies help to boost performance
  • Continuous performance monitoring through comprehensive dashboards and scorecards support the transformation strategy

New opportunities for identifying areas of performance and cost improvement continue to be sought.

For example, Airbus is implementing SITS diagnostic consulting tool Portfolio Assessment Method to identify the potential for value improvement and reduced TCO.

Client view

“We have found in SITS the right partner to drive our transformation, supporting our project management stakes well while ensuring best in class project delivery.” Michel Beillard, Airbus IM head of Corporate Solutions and Bundle Manager