Swiss Aviation Software: Bringing Quality and Innovation To MRO Processes

As a market where the smallest discrepancies i n terms of quality and safety could mean life or death, the aviation sector is constantly looking to innovate their maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) processes. However, as most MRO processes involve the sourcing and delivering of parts from manufacturing and maintenance partners across different geographies, via disparate technology deployments, and following stringent regulatory mandates, aviation firms and MRO organizations have to allocate significant resources to maintain course with their deadlines. And as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the aviation arena, firms in the space are seeking partners that can help them build robust, quality-driven and cost-effective operations.

Swiss AviationSoftware (Swiss-AS) addresses this need with its state-of-the-art AMOS MRO software, which helps users simplify MRO processes through a high degree of integration, functional depth and ease of use. According to Pierluigi Calu, Head of the AMOS Asia Pacific Business Unit, the company has an unparalleled client success rate due to the combination of a worldwide leading software, best-of-breed processes and emphasis on delivering the highest quality services. "There is no value in buying a sport car without knowing how to drive it. Similarly for airlines and MRO firms, having a software that consolidates information across all their maintenance and engineering (M&E) facets is not enough without the business processes that turn the data-driven insights into real value addition," says Calu.

Initially, AMOS was developed as part of an IT project for the former Swiss airline, Crossair. At the time, today’s CEO of Swiss-AS, Ronald Scherer, was part of the development team tasked with developing the desired MRO software. After the development of AMOS, Crossair began using it to manage all MRO activities of its expansive fleet. Subsequently, the Swiss ambulance helicopter operator Rega implemented the software to manage their engineering and maintenance activities. The success of this collaboration drove Scherer to envision turning this in-house IT project into a commercial product. In 2004, strengthened by its sales success, Swiss AviationSoftware Ltd. was founded and is today a subsidiary of Swiss International Air Lines, embedded in the Lufthansa Group. Currently, the AMOS software is one of the leading MRO offerings across the globe owing to its proven ability to significantly simplify MRO processes and develop a high-performing and reliable operational infrastructure.

"Amos is a community product that is ever-growing with innovation thanks to our focus on turning daily customer inputs into actionable capabilities that satisfy all customer needs, regardless of size or maturity"

While being the undisputable market-leader in Europe and having gained substantial market shares in other parts of the world, Swiss-AS strategy is to continue to intensify its presence in non-European markets by growing its local representations outside of Europe.

In addition to a business unit in Miami, Swiss-AS’ footprint is also well marked in the APAC region. “We opened the Singapore based office in 2012 and recently a second one in Tokyo as we see a strong growth potential in this part of the world. With a large percentage of local airlines and MRO providers not having an M&E system, the APAC region offers a promising market for growth, which encourages us to expand our presence towards the East.” says Scherer.

Swiss-AS' flagship offering AMOS allows users to seamlessly manage their M&E as well as logistic needs while maintaining compliance with stringent and complex aviation regulations. The company's AMOS solution comprises dedicated modules including material management, engineering, planning, production, maintenance control, component maintenance, commercial, QA, HR, and financial management. With such a comprehensive feature-set, AMOS enables its users to gain effective control of their overall MRO processes in a simple and efficient manner. Additionally, Swiss-AS works closely with its customers as development partners to continually incorporate additional capabilities such as process automation and more, which can mitigate issues across the aviation and MRO community. "AMOS is a community product that is ever-growing with innovation thanks to our focus on turning daily customer inputs into actionable capabilities that satisfy all customer needs, regardless of size or maturity," states Mr Calu.

With such unmatched competencies, Swiss-AS has ignited several success stories since its inception. In one instance, the company assisted one of the largest MROs in Southeast Asia in completely overhauling their existing tech implementations and operations to better serve their customers. Due to its expansive and complex operations, the client needed to gain a better control over customer deadlines as well as compliance requirements. With Swiss- AS' AMOS software, the MRO client was able to achieve significant data consolidation across their operations via customizable dashboards that monitor information in all their disparate facets in real-time. As a result, the client was able to vastly improve its time-to-market and compliance processes, as well as ensure the achievement of their desired profit margin.

At the heart of Swiss-AS success is a laser focus on maintaining industry-best quality across all their internal workflows and processes as well as all customer touchpoints. In fact, everyone in the Swiss-AS workforce, whether a software developer, consultant, trainer or project manager, has prior experience working in aviation. Concurrently, AMOS' community-based architecture enables the company to continually partner with innovative customers that are trying to shift the existing paradigm of MRO processes. "We don't just take in customer feedback and develop features that mitigate a unique problem. We always try to come along with innovative solutions that help not just one client, but the overall aviation community," explains Calu.

Moving forward, Swiss-AS aims to launch its SaaS-based data messaging platform, AMOScentral, which will allow members of the AMOS community to connect with one another and beyond by linking AMOScentral to external service providers. From a technology standpoint, Calu mentions that his company is working toward developing smarter process automation services to further enhance efficiencies for clients and mobile applications that will enable seamless MRO management on the go. Discussing geographical expansion plans, Calu also elaborates on the newly-opened Tokyo office and a roadmap to utilize his company's growing footprint in APAC to penetrate the Chinese marketplace.