Rapier team bags prize with Simple++

Citation

(2000), "Rapier team bags prize with Simple++", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 72 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2000.12772cab.030

Rapier team bags prize with Simple++

Keywords Rapier, Awards, Software, Simulation

The Rapier, guided weapons tracker system, Tranche 1A team has been awarded the prestigious BAe Chairman's bronze award for innovation 1999. The nomination was for work on the complex and critical process of production reliability acceptance testing, for the multi-million pound, technologically advanced, Rapier ground equipment. The team used Simple++ simulation software from Tecnomatix to simulate the process of production, testing and maintenance of the system. Neil Taylor, business management and Richard Philp, technologist, accepted the award on behalf of the team at a celebration evening at the National Railway Museum, York. Bob Haresceugh, engineering and operations director of Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD) presented the plaque.

Simulation software becomes almost indispensable to the process of understanding the production and reliability issues involved when, as in the case of the Rapier, the interrelationships of discrete events become too complicated to be plotted in two dimension. The model created in Simple++ enabled ideas, concerns and builds of the team to be shared within a common environment. This in turn assisted the development of the production reliability acceptance testing process, facilitating the achievement of a high profile, multi-million pound milestone.