Thales MicroElectronics Gets Products to Market Faster with Optimized Design by Using Collaborative, Real-Time Lifecycle Management
 
 

Thales MicroElectronics Gets Products to Market Faster with Optimized Design by Using Collaborative, Real-Time Lifecycle Management

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As the center of competence in microelectronics for the Thales Group defense systems division, Thales MicroElectronics (TMI) designs, engineers, integrates, and tests electronic systems and functions for the defense, aerospace, and avionic industries.

TMI wanted to bolster its competitiveness in an increasingly limited defense market and to be positioned for niche markets that require superior technical expertise, such as oil field, telecommunications, transportation, and healthcare. To meet these objectives, TMI worked with Oracle Partner C-S to implement Oracle’s Agile product lifecycle management applications.

With the implementation, TMI has created a centralized product-data repository and automated all key management processes related to that data, such as processes for engineering, production, purchasing, support, and quality control. In addition, TMI can share product configuration files in real time with 250 collaborators, clients, and subcontractors, while optimizing product development stages and shortening the time-to-market. Further, the company is now able to conform to the aerospace industry standard EN 9100 for traceability and configuration management.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Thales MicroElectronics

  • “Oracle’s Agile product lifecycle management applications, which are well regarded by all our users, enable us to manage product lifecycle during design. We are optimizing time-to-market and improving project manufacturing management significantly.” – Stéphane Iafraté, Product Lifecycle Manager, Thales MicroElectronics

  • Strengthen competitiveness in an increasingly limited defense industry and position the company for complex niche markets that require superior technical expertise, including oil field exploration, telecommunications, transport, and healthcare
  • Create a single data repository to better manage electronic product production and integrate key corporate functions—such as engineering, production, purchasing, support, and quality control
  • Automate and simplify data management related to aerospace industry products to meet clients’ traceability and configuration management requirements

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Worked with Oracle Partner C-S to deploy Oracle’s Agile product lifecycle management applications in five months, optimizing product lifecycle management and cooperation between engineers, clients, and subcontractors
  • Involved all development team users through an enterprisewide and collaborative solution, something not possible with the legacy technical data management system, as it was restricted to the engineering and design departments
  • Created a single product data repository that contains 150,000 manufacturer references; 60,000 items, such as multichip modules and power transmitters; and 130,000 product definition documents
  • Automated processes related to engineering change orders, quotations, and product design file uploads
  • Achieved compliance with aerospace standard EN 9100 by using approval processes and best practices incorporated into Agile product lifecycle management applications
  • Optimized productivity for 250 TMI collaborators by sharing real-time product configuration information, reducing the time to execute engineering change orders by 86%
  • Established a collaborative extranet platform, accelerating time to market by sharing modification files and the product data repository with subcontractors
  • Enabled users to optimize communication and reporting about things such as follow ups, progress, ongoing modifications, and configurations in production with clients
  • Provided compliance contractual agreements to clients for all additional engineering requests, thanks to the traceability of technical developments

Why Oracle

“We chose Oracle’s Agile product lifecycle management applications because of ease of implementation, user friendliness, security features, and its traceability capabilities that ensure we meet our customers’ requirements,” said Stéphane Iafraté, product lifecycle manager, Thales MicroElectronics.

Partner

  • Oracle Partner
    C-S

C-S worked with TMI’s IT teams to deploy Agile product lifecycle management applications and orchestrated user workshops and training. Specifically, C-S created an interface for massive data loading, to import data from other systems on a daily basis.

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