New facility will be focal point for US-based manufacturer's key internet portal
Boeing is developing a new operations control centre in Seattle for its rapidly growing Commercial Aircraft Services (CAS) unit. The new multi-million dollar facility is scheduled to commence operations around mid-year, says CAS vice- president Lou Mancini. The centre will form a focus point for CAS's interface with customers in areas such as maintenance and engineering services, spares and materials management, global customer support and flight operations support.
"I want it done as fast as possible. The building exists, but we have to tear down walls and so on to put it all in our customer support building. I want it done fast, but I want it done right with a conference room next door," adds Mancini.
The move is also crucial to the growing customer base perception, says Mancini. "I want them to see how we are changing our culture to be more like their culture," adds the former United Airlines maintenance chief. "I want this to be a physical manifestation of how we're changing our culture at Boeing. Its worth it's weight in gold," he says.
The centre will also be the focal point for functions such as MyBoeingFleet, an internet access portal for airlines to Boeing technical data, services and applications. The site, which is used by around 1,000 companies and 42,000 individual users, registered 140 million hits in 2004 and is growing with an average 12 to 14 million hits per month.
CAS is also expanding its Airplane Health Management system beyond the 747 and 777 fleets to include the Next Generation 737. The system, which collects, monitors and analyses aircraft data in real time for more efficient fleet support, is already being used by American Airlines, Air France, Japan Air Lines and Singapore Airlines. CAS plans to start the 737 expansion by the end of 2005, with American and JAL, both of which have agreed to "be on board for beta tests in the second quarter of 2006", CAS says.
GUY NORRIS LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
