Tooling availability discussions are getting louder, and it appears end users are latching onto the benefits of going digital. Antoine Ghosn, the chief executive at Dedienne Aerospace Services, has observed several recent trends including customer appeals for quicker information on asset location, documentation and delivery status.
Ghosn suggests that a major impact of the pandemic was a complete 180-deg. vision change toward tooling. “What was considered perhaps a consumable is now seen as an asset that needs to be maintained in operational condition anywhere and anytime,” he tells Aviation Week. “Progressively, we see a major shift where an oversized tooling park is no longer a valuable strategy for cost optimization reasons.”
Tooling park management entails managing a set of assets uploaded to the platform which requires real-time monitoring of the maintenance of operational condition. In the context of Dedienne Aerospace, it refers to a customer owning tooling or assets and managing their operations with real-time updates of the tooling statuses. In essence, Dedienne clients who own the tooling utilize the platform to ensure ease of maintenance of their equipment.
“Consequently, we see that MROs, airlines and OEMs are seeking their tooling park optimized according to their production needs, with an availability rate close to 100%,” Ghosn says. He also points to pressures in the global supply chain as another factor which is inducing high lead times on new asset procurement.
Dedienne Aerospace has partnered with ToolLive, a startup launched in 2017, to bring to market a digital solution and app for tooling park management. Ghosn reports that, thanks to the new technology, tooling availability is close to 99%.
“Currently, we see a lot of new developments within ToolLive with future modules integrating directly to end user ERP and operations planification,” he says.
Paul-Emmanuel Faidherbe, chief technical officer at ToolLive, believes the adoption of digital tooling is on an upswing and expected to solidify in the coming years, especially with the ease of use provided by smartphones and tablets.
Faidherbe says mobile usage is a key aspect, with specific developments tailored to the needs of industry users. He also anticipates challenges with adoption, such as security concerns, encouraging user adherence and facilitating the shift in user habits—particularly in sectors such as aerospace which are rapidly digitizing. “Our partnership with Dedienne Aerospace has showcased these trends in action,” Faidherbe says.
Ghosn speaks of additional concerns: “Sharing data related to asset inventory and its use was difficult to accept in the beginning by users, even though they were completely aware about the strong added value of the ToolLive solution.”
Reportedly, following several successful test campaigns on different business cases, the first users eventually became the sponsors of the development, improvement of ToolLive and its deployment.
Looking ahead, ToolLive is in discussions to integrate the solution into vendor ERP systems.
