India-based MRO Air Works has won the Innovation in Data Intelligence category of the 2021 IDC Industry Innovation Awards.
Air Works’ business analytics tool – mSights – was judged as the winner in the Data Intelligence category. The tool is designed to improve operational efficiency through intelligent insights gained from providing a 360° view of maintenance operations.
The IDC Industry Innovation Awards seek to recognise organisations and future technology leaders who have been driving business performance through leveraging technology. The awards were handed out across four categories for organisations based out of India – Excellence in Operations, Excellence in Omni-Experience, Excellence in Data Intelligence, and the Special Award for Environmental Sustainability. This year there were more than 300 nominations across industries.
“IDC’s recognition is a validation of Air Works’ digital transformation initiatives that seek to reimagine various business scenarios for improved efficiency and cost savings,” said D Anand Bhaskar, managing director and CEO of Air Works Group. “Typically, maintenance projects comprise hundreds of inter-related tasks which should be executed within specific timelines. Deployment of the mSights dashboard strengthens our customer orientation, lending us a unique advantage of proactive decision-making through early alerts, timely follow-ups comprising both internal and external stakeholders, realising improvements in terms of productivity, turnaround time, and cost savings.”
“Deployment of mSights demonstrates a meaningful way in which intelligent use of information can impact our business, bringing in efficiencies across the entire aviation and defence MRO value chain,” added Bhaskar. “In fact, these changes have even influenced other aspects of our working such as transparency and collaboration, positively. mSights represents an insight into the scale of transformation that Air Works is readying for, to cement our position as the leader in MRO space in the country and the region.”
Air Works said it has been on a path of rapid digitalisation in recent years and the pandemic has only accelerated the pace.
“mSights rides on our organisational IT backbone, making intelligent and diagnostic use of information already available on Titan – Air Works’ proprietary ERP platform, enabling enterprise-wide access,” said Ramkumar Mohan, chief information officer at Air Works. “The design and development of the entire dashboard was done in-house, in record time. The process involves mapping and programming each and every touchpoint across the entire engineering and maintenance chain to account for all possible scenarios. We have already begun seeing promising results in terms of productivity and I am confident that its enterprise-wide deployment will open the flood gates to reengineer a significant number of our processes, leading to greater than anticipated results including recalibrated processes as well as significant cost savings.”
“2021 proved to be a year of both disruption and innovation, with an almost unprecedented increase in technological advancement,” said Dr Chris Holmes, managing director, IDC Insights Asia Pacific. “While technology was at the forefront in 2020, with businesses adopting new technology to enable operations, we saw businesses scale this up even further this year and innovate to meet customer demands. As COVID-19 continued to cause disruptions around the world, businesses devised new and innovative ways to expand and navigate the challenges. Key to success is data – gathering data, analysing data, and most importantly using data, to enable informed decision making. Air Works has taken this to heart, and with the mSights project is putting data at the heart of its operations, enabling improvements across the business.”
Air Works provides line maintenance services and is certified to maintain more than 50 types of aircraft. It has a pan-India presence in 27 locations with close to 1,500 employees. The company also provides commercial aircraft asset management services, avionics, interior and cabin solutions, 3D printing and aircraft finishing services and solutions. Its customers include both civil (fixed- and rotary-wing) and military customers, as well as global OEMs, commercial airlines, business aviation companies, and global lessors.
