STEWART PENNEY / LONDON
BAE Systems Avionics has been reorganised according to platform type in an attempt to present a coherent, single point of contact to the market and thereby improve customer dealings.
Brian Tucker, BAE Avionics senior vice president business acquisition and customer relations, says the market has changed and "platform customers are increasingly interested in working together on the systems architecture". This still applies when more than one avionics supplier supports a programme, he says.
Tucker says that sales, marketing, contracting and customer support have been integrated into a single organisation that offers all of BAE's capabilities, instead of each product line having its own staff. The business has been split into military fixed wing, helicopters, commercial aircraft and battlespace infrastructure, rather than on products like radar, head-up displays or electronic warfare. Tucker reckons BAE Avionics is the first major aerospace company that has taken such an approach.
He says the change follows the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems as well as BAE's recent US acquisitions. Although BAE North America is not part of the avionics subsidiary, the new marketing organisation will offer the former's products as part of the integrated approach.
The move is also a response to the growing integration of systems on platforms and across the battlespace. "Customers are increasingly trying to purchase at the capability level and we're trying to show them how we integrate avionics," Tucker says.
"We offer architectures for all levels from the battlespace down," he says, adding "we could supply other companies' systems too".
Source: Flight International
