Manufacturing
Aerospace & Defense Quality, Risk & Compliance Solutions
By
Jul 1, 2008, 15:23

Aerospace and Defense manufacturers are faced with increasing demands due to a growth in competitors and a rise in stringent regulations. Manufacturers must integrate an automated quality management system to facilitate collaboration, increase production rates, provide enterprise-wide visibility, and validate compliance. Pilgrim’s solutions provide manufacturers with the ability to effectively manage and improve:

• Productivity
• Data Management and Retention
• Regulatory Compliance
• Globalization

1. Productivity Challenges
   Aerospace and Defense manufacturers produce complex products with upwards of a million parts and numerous mechatronic systems. Creating and maintaining accurate, up-to-date product specifications can be challenging due to the enormous amount of information generated by a single product. Product development and production times must be reduced in an attempt to remain competitive. Manufacturers must effectively manage product and processes changes across multiple locations. They must also facilitate value chain collaboration and maintain product quality and safety.
   
   Pilgrim’s solution reduces document management time and costs, implements effective change control processes, streamlines product development and introduction, optimizes collaboration, and manages audits to ensure quality and safety. The Pilgrim solution also interfaces with a company’s internal systems including ERP/MRP, MES, HR, PLM and PDM to ensure that compliance and quality are part of the entire product lifecycle management. The result is real-time enterprise-wide visibility.
   
   
2. Data Management and Retention
   Manufacturers in the Aerospace and Defense industries must abide by specific regulations regarding product specifications, maintenance records, and other product-related design information and data. In addition to creating and storing these documents, immediate retrieval is required. Companies must sustain searchable, easily accessible document databases to remain compliant.
   
   Pilgrim’s solution provides a cost-effective means of creating, managing, and sharing documents with a single, centralized database. Automated searching enables fast and simple document searching. Real-time access allows for document change and updates and instant retrieval of the latest revisions. The Pilgrim solution enables document management and data retention across the enterprise.
   
   
3. Regulatory Compliance
   Strict government and military regulations control Aerospace and Defense industry standards. Production standards, quality management, and security protocol are outlined in these regulations. Regulatory compliance aims to ensure the production of high-quality, safe, secure products and systems. Noncompliance can result in the loss of contracts, large fines, litigation, and poor industry perception.
   
   Pilgrim’s solution helps manufacturers obtain and maintain compliance by providing an automated audit process, identifying and resolving non-conformances, maintaining an up-to-date document database, improving equipment calibration processes, and implementing enterprise-wide corrective and preventive actions when necessary.
   
   
4. Globalization
   Global partnerships, virtual design teams, and multiple production site locations are standard within the Aerospace and Defense industry. Communication and collaboration between internal divisions, multiple locations, customers, and suppliers are required for success in today’s market. Highly functional value chains are necessary for knowledge sharing and strategic planning.
   
   Pilgrim’s solution helps manufacturers with enterprise-wide management. Employees are able to access documents and task lists in real-time. E-mail notifications and discussion boards assist in keeping everyone in the value chain informed. The Pilgrim solution is CFR Part 11 compliant, guaranteeing access to sensitive and/or confidential documents only to authorized users. The integrated, end-to-end quality management solution provides value chain members with improved enterprise-wide visibility resulting in more efficient decision making.