TS Technology Services Wins Major Airwave Contract to Support Britain’s Emergency Services
TS Technology Services plays a key role in providing a faster, more efficient spare parts service for the world’s largest communications network for public safety
TS Technology Services, one of the industry’s leading providers of integrated supply chain service solutions to the telecommunications market, has won a major contract to provide nationwide field maintenance logistics services for the mission critical Airwave system for the emergency services.
The Airwave Tetra network provides the radio communications infrastructure that allows emergency services, such as the police, fire and ambulance services, to communicate reliably and securely across Great Britain. It is the world’s largest communications network for organisations with a public safety role.
TS Technology Services now manages the complex spare parts and repair logistics for Airwave’s field maintenance teams nationwide. This called for replacement parts to be made available to the maintenance teams whenever and wherever they need them on a next-day basis. This enables maintenance staff to pick up spare parts locally, and return faulty parts more efficiently.
The local pick-up/drop-off system means that service engineers do not have to wait at home or at the customer’s premises for deliveries. Instead the parts are sent overnight and an email automatically tells the engineers that the parts are ready for pick-up and return. Airwave engineers simply put the faulty parts in a box, which is collected overnight, and replacement parts are made available by 8.00am next morning. This greatly simplifies the engineers’ work and helps to make them more efficient. This system also helps ensure that faulty parts are returned at the same time, assisting with returns management and enabling faulty parts to be repaired more quickly and returned to stock.
TS Technology Services also provides complete demand analysis and forecast planning services to help ensure availability of the correct replacement parts depending on changing requirements. The company is also responsible for sending faulty parts back to the manufacturer for repair and return.
According to Steve Sharpe, Airwave’s Senior Supplier Manager, “The Airwave service plays an important role for police, fire fighters, paramedics and many other public safety organisations and it’s vital that the system is fully maintained and operational at all times. TS Technology Services was selected to support our field maintenance teams thanks to its proven ability to efficiently manage complex spare parts logistics operations on a nationwide basis.”
“Our role is to support the Airwave field service team by providing the parts they need exactly where and when they are required on an overnight delivery basis,” said Laurence Marcham, Business Development Director for TS Technology Services. “To win this important contract, we had to demonstrate a high level of service and commitment to Airwave and we are delighted to have won in the face of stiff competition.”
