Virgin Atlantic sets trend for Stortext's technical records solution

Citation

(2005), "Virgin Atlantic sets trend for Stortext's technical records solution", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 77 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2005.12777aaf.005

Virgin Atlantic sets trend for Stortext's technical records solution

Virgin Atlantic sets trend for Stortext's technical records solution

Keywords: Virgin Atlantic Airways, Aircraft, Document handling

Building on systems developed for Virgin Atlantic Airways, Stortext Document Solutions Limited is launching a portfolio of web-enabled technical document management services tailored for the aviation industry. This gives airlines and other companies maintaining aircraft an extremely effective way to manage technical information and libraries in an online environment, with all the benefits that flow from immediate access to up-to-date information from anywhere in the world.

Virgin Atlantic is one of the first airlines to have benefited from this portfolio of digital document handling and access services. Virgin has worked with Stortext to implement an outsourced system that has made considerable cost savings, maximised the earning potential of aircraft by reducing downtime and improved the quality of Virgin's aircraft maintenance function.

Stortext, based near Luton Bedfordshire, is one of the UK's leading providers of outsourced electronic and paper-based document services. Its portfolio of digital document management offerings is ideally suited to the effective handling of high volumes of technical records where speed of access, robust systems, security and data integrity are vital. With the potential loss of revenue that results from aircraft downtime – anything up to $500 per minute – and the implications on capital value if essential documentation is lost, the aviation industry has extremely demanding requirements when it comes to the management and use of technical maintenance data.

The suite of aviation services is based around Stortext's core DOX-Zone offerings. These cover all the processes involved in the conversion of paper documents into electronic images or records and the dissemination, storage, retrieval and use of digital records.

Virgin's Technical Records Department has over 850,000 documents folly indexed as electronic images that can be accessed online via Stortext's secure servers. This means that engineers working on the servicing, maintenance and modification of Virgin's Boeing fleet have all the documentation they need at their fingertips without delay. As a result, the airline has eliminated the need to distribute paper records, improved parts ordering process and minimised aircraft downtime due to maintenance or design modifications.

“It is with business processes such as this, where technical information has traditionally been handled on paper, that our wealth of experience can add value for clients”, says Graeme Scott, Chief Executive Officer at Stortext. “We have demonstrated beyond doubt through our work with Virgin Atlantic that mere are considerable and tangible benefits to be realised from the effective handling of technical aircraft information in a digital environment.”

Claire Louise Neal, Technical Information Manager at Virgin Atlantic, comments: “Stortext has enabled us to make essential technical information available precisely where it is needed, when it is needed. The web- based digital storage and retrieval system is helping to minimise delays on the ground and making significant cost savings for us whilst maximising the service we provide to our customers. It is helping to keep us at the top of the industry league in terms of our performance”.

Details available from: Stortext Document Solutions Ltd. Tel: þ44 (0) 1582 845900; E-mail: mailto:Erica.nash@stortext.com