Project Overview
A UK aerospace component manufacturer producing parts for Airbus and Rolls-Royce needed to replace paper-based...
Technology Stack
Compliance & Standards
The Challenge
A UK aerospace component manufacturer producing parts for Airbus and Rolls-Royce needed to replace paper-based production travellers with a digital Manufacturing Execution System (MES). AS9100 aerospace quality management requirements, traceability from raw material to final part, non-conformance management, first article inspection (FAI) records, and integration with their ERP (SAP Business One) were all mandatory. The paper system was causing 4–6 hours of weekly admin per production cell. Budget: £120,000.
Our Approach
Full material traceability
- from incoming raw material heat/lot number through every production operation to final part serial number.
- QR code scanning at each operation (Zebra TC52 mobile scanners).
Immutable operation log
- once recorded, no modification without a controlled change record (AS9100 requirement).
- Certificate of Conformance (CoC) auto-generated from operation records.
SAP B1 integration via Service Layer API
- production orders pulled from SAP (work order number, part number, quantity, due date), material consumption posted back to SAP inventory on completion, production completion posted to SAP sales order for shipping.
- No double-keying: MES is the system of record for production
- SAP is the system of record for commercial and financial data.
- Non-
Conformance Management
- Non-Conformance Report (NCR) workflow: technician raises NCR via MES mobile app, dispositioned by Quality Engineer (use-as-is, rework, scrap, return to supplier), corrective action (8D format) linked to NCR, and customer notification (automatic email with NCR PDF for Airbus/Rolls-Royce customer-facing NCRs).
- NCR trend analysis dashboard for RCCA (Root Cause Corrective Action) identification.
UK GDPR and Data Security
AS9100 customer data (Airbus/Rolls-Royce technical specifications, drawings) requires access control: only authorised personnel on active work orders can view relevant drawings.
UK GDPR
employee production data (operator name on each operation) retained per employment records policy.
ITAR/EAR
some aerospace components are export-controlled — access control by citizenship for ITAR-controlled drawings.
The Results
MES live across 4 production cells at 14 weeks, £112,000 — under budget.
Admin time reduction: 4–6 hours/week → 40 minutes/week per production cell.
CoC generation time: 2 hours → 12 minutes.
AS9100 internal audit: zero findings related to traceability (previously 3–5 findings per audit).
Airbus supplier audit: commended for digital traceability system.
SAP integration: zero manual data entry between MES and SAP since go-live.
“The Airbus supplier audit was the moment we knew the MES was the right investment. Their auditor spent 30 minutes on traceability — something that previously took us 4 hours to prepare for — and found zero issues. The paper system could never have supported that." — Quality Director, UK Aerospace Component Manufacturer (name withheld)”
Project Details
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