Insights

Irvine, CA, USA and Hamburg, Germany – The innovative product sustainability service will provide customers with an affordable, easy-to-implement alternative to ongoing product support services.

ThoughtFocus and ALTHOM have expanded their technical publications production alliance to provide a turn-key Integrated Product Support (IPS) service, based on a next-generation platform that is fully compliant with the latest S1000D technical content standards. The addition of the HICO iLS.Suite® digital data management platform completes the offering, enabling integration of quality technical content and broader product support services across the enterprise.

The IPS solution will be presented at the 2018 S1000D User Forum & ILS Specification Day, sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association slated for September 10-13 in New Orleans, LA.

“Our technical publication customers in the A&D space have been asking for additional logistical support, as they grapple with the need to upgrade infrastructure and capabilities,” said Alkiviadis Thomas, ALTHOM Founder and CEO. “The addition of the HICO iLS.Suite® platform and associated tools give us the ability to offer a truly total solution to enterprise customers needing to support products throughout the service life cycle. It represents a sensible, affordable alternative for customers who are looking to invest in a program for long-term product sustainability.”

The on-demand solution from ALTHOM and ThoughtFocus offers engineering resources for any needed support. This integrated platform conforms to stringent S1000D standards. With advanced technical publications capabilities integrated into the IPS solution, airframe manufacturers moving to S1000D compliance can rapidly migrate supplier technical publications.

“We have the technology, platform and people to provide superior integrated product support at lower cost, protecting our A&D customers against obsolescence, especially in spares provisioning,” noted Former ThoughtFocus Aerospace General Manager David Deal. “Customers can buy the IPS suite from us and have us design an integrated program for customer implementation, they can use us for the implementation, or they can turn over the entire product support/documentation function to the joint ALTHOM and ThoughtFocus team. In every scenario, we can save them money, while assuring a superior service and sustainability.”

Targeting A&D industry manufacturers, the ALTHOM-ThoughtFocus technical publications with integrated product support initiative will rely upon the data management tools and protocols resident in the HICO iLS.Suite® digital data management platform. The HICO iLS.Suite® collects and manages data from different IPS segments as well as external applications and prepares them for business-wide use or for delivery to end users. HICO iLS.Suite® will also serve as the delivery platform for the technical publication authoring, illustration and production services offered by ThoughtFocus and ALTHOM.

“Whether an organization sells products or offers technical services, there is always a great amount of logistic information and product data to manage,” according to Werner M. Schadelbauer, HICO Group General Manager and President of the Management Board. “Complete, accurate and timely documentation is a must for any quality-conscious company, but it is especially important for enterprises engaged in aerospace and defense manufacturing. The ThoughtFocus-ALTHOM collaboration is delivering a vital solution to these critical industries, and we are delighted to provide them with the broad product support capabilities found in the HICO iLS.Suite®.”

The ThoughtFocus-ALTHOM technical publications collaboration produces documentation and publications in compliance with all applicable technical regulations and appropriate international standards, including publications such as:

• Maintenance manuals
• Troubleshooting manuals
• Structural repair manuals
• Flight and cabin crew operating manuals
• Aircraft schematics and wiring diagrams manuals
• Illustrated parts documents, lists and catalogs
• 2D and 3D illustrations
• Interactive Electronic Technical Documentation (IETD)
• Customer-specific individual documentations

“As aircraft and vessel manufacturers transition to new platforms and component suppliers design and build for the aftermarket, they require a means of managing all associated data and developing the requisite documentation,” Deal added. “ThoughtFocus – ALTHOM technical authoring and illustration services, combined with the HICO iLS.Suite®, creates the ideal solution for managing this complex requirement on a sustainable basis, and we look forward to bringing this innovation to the global aerospace, defense and marine market.”

About ALTHOM
ALTHOM GmbH offers its customers the highest standards of offshore management. The service provider plans the business, production and development processes for companies at proven foreign locations. ALTHOM GmbH places one of its focuses on engineering, research & development and technical documentation. With its offshoring production management model, the company additionally supports its customers with the cost-effective relocation of production and the meeting of their offset obligations. ALTHOM GmbH has its headquarters in Hamburg/Germany and companies in Greece and Poland as own Nearshore-Solutions.  For more information please visit Technical Publications by ALTHOM.

About ThoughtFocus
ThoughtFocus is a privately held company, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We lead transformation in business with technology and insights to add value in four major sectors, aerospace and defense, education, finance, and manufacturing. We’re unlike the large consulting firms whose digital transformation business model is disjointed into separate advisory and execution firms that may not reflect the reality of the client’s needs. ThoughtFocus is a smaller company with an integrated approach, which has led to successful outcomes. The organization has grown rapidly since its inception and is now a mid-sized company, part of the Blackstone portfolio. The founders hold executive positions within the organization and are actively involved with clients and projects.

ThoughtFocus is a technology partner and portfolio investment company of Blackstone, a leading private equity firm. Click here for more information www.thoughtfocus.com.

About HICO Group GmbH
Since 1997, HICO is the Full-Line Supplier of efficient, sustainable software solutions and services for “Integrated Product Support (IPS)” and “Service Lifecycle Management (SLM)“.

HICO’s One-Stop-Solution focuses on technical documentation, material management, maintenance support, training and engineering support. The company provides custom-tailored solutions by the process- and system integration of different product information sources.

HICO is headquartered in Austria with subsidiaries in Canada, Germany and Switzerland. International representation via OEMs and business partners acting globally. For more information, please visit www.hico.com.