Paul Derby
The power of the internet has been a major theme at Asian Aerospace and on the stand of helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky, the company's e-commerce efforts are being showcased for the first time at an airshow.
Sikorsky says it is determined to lead the industry in electronic business and is focusing on streamlining sales and supply chain management.
"Our e-business initiative will override the constraints of time, geography and purchasing processes based on paper," says Jim Falco, Sikorsky's vice-president for e-business.
"As we see the future, aftermarket revenue will not come just from selling spare parts. In fact, it will be about selling fewer parts. The future is about selling information that reduces the total cost of ownership for our customers."
Sikorsky has split its activities into two streams - business to customer (B2C) and business to business (B2B). The B2C work includes the roll-out of a spares website, allowing customers to order off-the-shelf items and coordinate technical support on a global basis. The manufacturer says the service will be available to both the commercial and military sectors.
It is teaming with e-commerce specialist FirePond to offer an interactive selling tool for aircraft. "Soon, customers will be able to go online, configure the aircraft they desire and receive a price proposal," says Falco.
On the B2B front, Sikorsky is again teaming with an outside company to tie together the supply chain in an attempt to make aftermarket business simpler for customers.
"As we prepare to expand our presence in the commercial market, it is particularly important to look ahead at how we can best exceed our customers' expectations to deliver competitive advantage," says Jim Satterwhite, vice-president of international business development.
"We were pleased to find all the components we need to advance our customer channels in one place with the FirePond Application Suite. Their innovative approach to capturing intelligence from every point of customer interaction fits right in with our long-term strategy."
Source: Flight Daily News