Following AAR’s acquisition of Trax and Lufthansa Technik’s consolidation of Swiss-AS AMOS and flydocs software with its Aviatar platform last year, the trend of MRO industry software M&A activity continues. Enterprise software company IFS has just acquired artificial intelligence-powered MRO software provider EmpowerMX.
Founded in 1999, EmpowerMX has gained significant MRO industry traction in the past few years. Last year its software was selected by Aspire MRO to digitalize operations and by Embraer’s Services & Support business to streamline mechanic training records. In 2022, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines became launch customers for EmpowerMX’s cloud-based data exchange platform, EMX Insights. EmpowerMX software is also used by MRO Holdings.
Last September, EmpowerMX launched EMX Vision, its artificial intelligence (AI) module that it says uses internal and external data to forecast labor, defects, material probabilities, turnaround times and resource allocation to more accurately estimate costs and apply commercial terms. In an announcement about the software release, CEO Dinakara Nagalla noted, “We believe EMX Vision can enable MRO organizations of any size to harness vast amounts of historical aircraft and process data, on-the-go data including task flows and milestones, and OEM data, to gain a deeper understanding of their reality on the ground, plan for it and shorten their delivery times to customers.”
According to IFS, the combined capabilities of both companies’ software products will provide customers with a maintenance management system that can support multiple users in multiple roles, as well as paperless governance through electronic task cards and logbooks. IFS declined to comment about whether EmpowerMX will continue to operate as its own software solution or be rolled into IFS’s own MRO software products.
“Combining EmpowerMX with IFS is a perfect opportunity to proactively advance our leadership position in the aviation MRO software space due to the many synergies we have,” said Scott Helmer, president of IFS’s aerospace and defense business unit, in a statement about the acquisition. Helmer cited these synergies as an “aligned technology vision, deep sector expertise and a shared commitment to customer value.”
Last August, IFS signed an agreement to acquire industrial AI software provider Falkonry, which focuses on automated, high-speed data analysis for the manufacturing and defense industries. IFS did not confirm to Aviation Week Network that this deal was successfully closed.
Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, IFS VP for Aerospace and Defense Industries Rob Mather and Mike Kelly, sustainment director for advanced development programs at Lockheed Martin, wrote a guest column for Inside MRO about the potential for AI in MRO.
