Western Data Systems Announces CompassMRO Release 2.0 for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Operations

Business Wire, Oct 6, 1998

CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 1998--

-- Beta tested at the Naval Aviation Depot (NADEP JAX) at

Jacksonville, Fla.

-- Currently operational at the Shore Intermediate Maintenance

Activity, Naval Reserve Maintenance Facility (SIMA NRMF) at

Ingleside, Texas

Western Data Systems (WDS) Monday announced immediate availability of CompassMRO Release 2.0 -- an advanced software product for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) environment.

CompassMRO provides support for the predictive planning, tear-down, inspection and dispositioning phases of the MRO process, and integrates with the WDS CompassCONTRACT Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to manage the entire remanufacturing cycle.

Beta testing was accomplished at the Naval Aviation Depot (NADEP JAX) at Jacksonville, Fla. Commenting on the beta process and the product, JAX MRO Beta Site Lead Jeff Colquitt said: "The Beta test for the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) application was a tremendously successful partnership between the software supplier, Western Data Systems (WDS) and the customer, the United States Department of Defense (DoD).

"The MRO application adds critical functionality to the core CompassCONTRACT system to enable efficient business processes in the remanufacturing environment. We can use all the benefits of MRPII in our planning and execution, and we now have tools unique to the remanufacturing business environment," Colquitt added.

NADEP JAX performs work on an extensive list of equipment for the U.S. Navy as well as for other U.S. and foreign armed services. It performs Depot Level Maintenance (DLM), conversion, modernization and In-Service Engineering on a wide range of Navy aircraft, including the P-3 Orion, F/A-18 Hornet, F-14 Tomcat, EA-6B Prowler and A7 Corsair.

The system is also already operational at the Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity, Naval Reserve Maintenance Facility (SIMA NRMF) at Ingleside, Texas. The SIMA is the first level resource a Navy ship has to get repairs performed beyond the ship's own capability. Ingleside provides hull, machinery, electrical, electronics and weapons/deck repair services primarily to the Navy's mine sweeping fleet.

CompassMRO has been developed to allow commercial and military MRO facilities to more fully realize the closed loop management benefits of enterprise resource planning. Its design is based on in-depth analysis of the MRO environment and extensive input from industry professionals and practitioners.

CompassMRO provides a windows-based client/server application with product and process information, action prompts and graphical images to make the entire disassembly, inspection and dispositioning process fast and error-free. CompassMRO maintains a visual representation of the item's status throughout the process with simple point & click operation.

The improved capabilities of CompassMRO include:

-- Improved repair requirements planning based on frequency of

repair and replacement and operational occurrence factors by work

scope.

-- Enhanced tear-down and dispositioning capability, which allows

the inspector to disposition components, immediately updating the

plan with actual material requirements and operational steps for

each specific order based on inspection results.

-- Repair-oriented inventory control provides accurate rotating and

consumable inventory records with visibility of detail location,

lot number, serial number, job, condition, cycles and remaining

life, which provides total visibility of your customer's asset

throughout the complete repair cycle including total repair time,

cost and configuration.

-- Accelerated initial repair order required action identification

ensures that the remanufacturing facility responds more quickly

to the surprises and unexpected situations inherent in the MRO

world.

-- Improved accuracy of time-to-repair or -replace predictions for

components facilitates improved work flow, order rates, material

and skills needs assessment, thus lowering costs and improving

turnaround times.

-- Leverages the extensive CompassCONTRACT manufacturing,

procurement, project, cost and configuration management

capabilities to plan for and execute the entire remanufacturing

process.

-- Automatic capture of all shop floor activities and material usage

linked to a project work breakdown structure (WBS) with the

actual costs associated for each repair order provides detailed

task-level analysis and billing, saving substantial time and

effort.

The CompassMRO Suite is part of the WDS CompassENTERPRISE family of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) application software products, with CompassCONTRACT and the WORKBENCH Series of desktop decision support tools as its core application set.

CompassCONTRACT is a comprehensive client/server Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system designed specifically for the needs of the commercial and military aerospace industry. All CompassENTERPRISE applications utilize the Oracle7 RDBMS, UNIX servers and Windows PCs in an advanced client/server architecture with proven scaleability from a few users to thousands.