THALES

With Thales SIX GTS France, Thales is positioned as the European leader and among the world leaders in secure information and communication systems for the defense, security and ground transportation markets, and as a major player in cybersecurity.

The Brive (Corrèze), Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) and Laval (Mayenne) sites specialize in the development and, above all, the production and support of secure communication equipment and systems for the aeronautical, naval and land transport sectors.

THALES in 3 figures

sites in
France

7 100

employees in
France

8 000

systems and sub-systems
references repaired

Expectations

In an MRO context, where forecasting is often difficult, and after having worked on controlling its work in progress, THALES SIX-GTS wanted to have a more detailed and reactive vision of the forecasted equipment release dates.

THALES SIX-GTS also wanted to standardize the Visual Management practices on the repair platforms of its different sites.

Not to mention the major challenge of strictly respecting the confidentiality and sensitive nature of certain information.

It was imperative to propose a representation in accordance with the practices of the different sites while bringing coherence between each one, in order to provide them with a digital tool facilitating decision making as close as possible to the field.

Solutions

The use of a digital board has proven to be an effective solution to :

Maintain the business visibility present on the physical boards already in place,
Provide a global vision of the ARU (Autonomous Repair Unit),
Manage better the resources shared between the cells,
Estimate more precisely the delivery dates,
Share information with remote people (especially telecommuters).

The integration with the Information System is a challenge and at the same time a key point of success.

Indeed, one of the strong points of the digital board vs. paper board is its ability to automatically retrieve existing information and thus eliminate tedious and time-consuming re-keying tasks.

And all this while integrating the constraints of respecting security processes.

Project approach

The project was initiated with an initial contextualization on a pilot site. Based on existing practices, a modeling work was carried out jointly by the ARU manager, the Customer Support team and the WIPSIM project manager.

One of the complexities of the project was to reconcile the representation of the particularities of MRO (Maintenance & Repair Operations) activities in order to make the most of the software’s functionalities without having to resort to specific developments.

Once the pilot site was functional and validated, the solution was easily deployed on 2 other sites.

This scaling-up step only required a few minor adjustments thanks to the collaborative work carried out by the teams of the different sites to ensure the desired consistency.

Results

Visibility

After 6 months of use, the expected visibility is achieved. The vision shared by technicians and platform managers, coupled with the lead time forecast embedded in the SmartWip solution, has simplified and improved team alignment.

It has also contributed to the effort to raise awareness of the notion of lead time in a context where hazards are strong and can regularly jeopardize forecasts.

Open innovation

A co-constructed approach has been put in place between Thales SIX-GTS and WIPSIM. A co-constructed approach has been put in place between Thales SIX-GTS and WIPSIM.

This relationship of trust has enabled the SmartWip solution to evolve rapidly and agilely to better respond to the specificities of the MRO business, while enriching the standard functional coverage of the software, which will benefit the entire community of current and future users.

Emulation

In addition, an important dynamic between the inter-site teams, supported by the Digital Transformation team, has developed and is still going strong. Exchanges on local practices, co-writing of specifications, Benchmarks, are regularly carried out to enrich usage.

The SmartWip digital tables have been presented directly by the teams in the field to their colleagues in the Thales group during internal events to highlight innovations and successful practices.

“The tool is very much appreciated on the three platforms for its ability to improve visibility on the state of progress and to help teams project the estimated date of completion of repairs.

It contributes to better day-to-day management and helps put the customer at the center of the workshop. This technology supports Thales’ core business of constantly striving to push the limits of technology to act faster. “

Julien Métairie – Digital Transformation Manager at Thales.