Messier Dowty Case Study
Totally committed
to IT support
Messier-Dowty
Messier-Dowty, a Safran group company, is the world leader in the design, development, manufacture and support of landing gear systems. Used across the entire Airbus range, also for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and for military aircraft, these systems are in service on more than 20,500 aircraft making over 35,000 landings a day.
Maindec originally engaged with the manufacturer as part of a cost-cutting exercise almost 20 years ago, replacing the incumbent when the service provided was not meeting expectations. Douglas May, Messier-Dowty, Gloucester’s IS Manager for the UK and Asia, comments, “The service contract for server and desktop support originally went out to tender because we weren’t happy with the service we were receiving. Messier-Dowty, Gloucester was also undergoing a significant period of change as business units were being re-shaped, and we found that we had less internal IT resources to handle problems. We needed a third party support provider to work in collaboration with the existing IS team to add more value, and the previous provider was not in a position to do so.”
May continues, “Maindec won the contract and introduced a partner to manage the desktop support element at that time. Three years later, Maindec was then in a position to offer multi-vendor support and took on the entire contract for Messier-Dowty, Gloucester. This step-change in the relationship between the two companies is indicative of the way in which Maindec is constantly evolving to increase its service offering and overall flexibility, and is always aiming to offer us a complete package.”
The flexibility inherent to Maindec’s support is one of the key benefits of the ongoing relationship, May adds, “Whilst the previous support provider was very rigid in its approach and prescriptive in the ways in which it supported Messier-Dowty, Gloucester, Maindec’s focus is on our requirements as a business and it is willing to offer a high degree of flexibility working in partnership with the IS team helping us achieve smooth-running business operations.”
Maindec provides a permanent team onsite with Messier-Dowty at Gloucester and full support and backup services for the server hardware on an 8-hour break / fix contract, the network, and desktop support for approx. 900 employees based at the premises. May comments, “If drives fail, memories fail, or desktop PCs need immediate attention Maindec provides the resources, knowledge and equipment to fix the problem. We have a team of dedicated engineers onsite every day which take care of anything we need alongside the IS staff.”
The value delivered by this approach has been optimised by the consultancy role which Maindec takes within IT projects at Messier-Dowty, Gloucester. Maindec has provided guidance as the manufacturer researches and develops various virtualisation initiatives, and also aided rollout of new operating systems across the business, adding further resource onsite to facilitate such projects.
With the long-standing relationship and value-added benefits taken into account, Messier-Dowty, Gloucester has not looked back since recently renewing the contract with Maindec. May explains, “As an international business, it was a requirement to review other options available in the market and evaluate long-standing contracts to measure the value in terms of financial return. Maindec categorically came out on top at the end of this process, which is testament to the high quality of service we receive, and the ways in which they deliver an excellent service for the right price.”
May concludes, “Maindec provides a continual onsite presence, and delivers business knowledge which is integral to Messier-Dowty’s Gloucester operation. The engineers’ understanding of our very specific and specialist hardware systems, and the problems we may encounter, makes the service completely necessary and indispensable.”
