The Company: About Atomic Weapons Establishment
Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) has been central to the defense of the United Kingdom for more than 60 years. We provide and maintain the warheads for the country’s nuclear deterrent, Trident. Trident is a submarine-launched, intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile weapons system, carried by Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines. Our role at AWE is to manufacture and sustain the warheads for the Trident system, ensuring optimum safety and performance, but also to maintain a capability to produce a successor system should the Government require one in the future.
Our work at AWE covers the entire life cycle of nuclear warheads; from initial concept, assessment and design, to component manufacture and assembly, in-service support, and finally decommissioning and disposal. AWE employs around 4,500 staff and over 2,000 contractors, whose work covers a vast range of disciplines; scientists, engineers, technicians, crafts-people, and safety specialists, as well as business and administrative experts – many of whom are leaders in their field.
The Situation: IT Infrastructure
Such specialist defense products require unique manufacturing skills and complex ERP software and production control software systems. A highly reliable IT infrastructure is also critical. When the company set about the task of sourcing a state-of-the-art Aerospace and Defense ERP manufacturing software solution as the backbone for its comprehensive departmental structures and working practices, it selected Jobscope Government Contract software because of its focus on Government Contractor software, Aerospace and Defense software, Project Manufacturing Software, and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Software.
The Solution: JOBSCOPE ERP
By selecting JOBSCOPE Aerospace manufacturing software, AWE’s objectives were to bring commonality to departmental processes and the many standalone IT systems that were in operation, as well as to improve cost efficiencies within its many dedicated engineering and production departments. To achieve this, AWE required an extremely high level of understanding and support from both Jobscope and In2grate Business Solutions, the Strategic Partner for JOBSCOPE in the UK and Europe. From the outset, the Jobscope and AWE teams worked together openly and intensively. Alan Lyford, Defense Manufacturing Software and ERP Software Solutions Manager, commented: “The Product Information Management System (PIMS) team at AWE was very clear as to their specific requirements from the new ERP manufacturing software system and new, more integrated IT infrastructure. The team was allowed a true voice in the configuration and enhancement of the system, resulting in additional functionality within JOBSCOPE that maximized the system’s effectiveness for PIMS to go about its complex daily tasks as smoothly and effectively as possible. It is testimony to the level of flexibility within JOBSCOPE that each suggestion from the PIMS team was quickly and efficiently adopted.”
The Results: JOBSCOPE ERP Implementation Benefits
With JOBSCOPE, AWE has in place an effective engineer-to-order, project-oriented manufacturing software system for government contractors that have made it possible to harmonize manufacturing processes and departmental integration, resulting in increased efficiency and cost savings. It has also facilitated affordable rationalization and maintenance of its business technology; established standardized reporting; and improved visibility of contract costs and performance.
Continuing Success
Future system development is also possible as JOBSCOPE is a long-life product that can be developed economically to meet new manufacturing requirements as they occur. Contract reviews and health checks with the ongoing support from Jobscope and In2grate mean AWE’s working structures are truly affordable and provide continued value.
