Intermec Supports Aerospace Industry Plan to Bar Code Billions of Airplane Parts; Plan Could Result in Better Air Safety and Greater Maintenance Efficiency.

Business Editors

EVERETT, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2000

To improve the global traceability of virtually every component used on almost all aircraft now being produced, the Air Transport Association and the Department of Defense have announced programs requiring permanent bar code identification on all line-replaceable parts installed in military and commercial airplanes. The overall scope of the implementation efforts, aimed at improving air safety and reducing maintenance costs, is dramatic. A Boeing 747, for example, has more than six million parts.

To help the airlines, as well as the military and commercial aerospace industries achieve these ambitious plans, Intermec, a global leader in automated information solutions, today opened a major symposium at its Everett, Washington headquarters showcasing the new programs as well as some of the latest technologies available for individually identifying the billions of aircraft parts potentially impacted.

According to Bill Munroe, Intermec's manager of aerospace supply chain solutions, "This symposium represents the first time senior officials from national defense, commercial aerospace, and the airline industry have come together in a forum to jointly present the supply chain benefits and implementation challenges involved with parts marking and tracking."

Both of the programs behind the recent initiative have been years in development. The civilian initiative, SPEC 2000, is sponsored by the Air Transport Association of America (ATA) and sets information standards for parts and repair services for commercial and civilian aircraft. ISO/ANSI MH10 is a similar program endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense for military aircraft parts.

"Tracking the life of every flight-critical part with absolute certainty is a vital concern of everyone responsible for safe airline operations," said SPEC 2000 chairperson Jon Andresen. "While using this new system, anyone who manufacturers, installs, removes or repairs a part will now identify it in a common way. This lets airlines and aircraft manufacturers improve their compliance with government programs while ensuring public safety and reducing expensive inventories through better item management."

According to Munroe, as many as 80% of the parts on a typical aircraft can be identified with a simple, pressure-sensitive bar code label. However, high performance parts including turbine blades and wing surfaces will require direct marking technologies such as laser engraving or metal etching.

"Regardless of which approach is used, bar coding is the key," said Munroe, "It is the best means for identifying and controlling unapproved aircraft parts and improving information for maintenance, logistics and safety."

The one-day conference is expected to draw a host of top experts on automated parts marking and identification including: Jon Andresen, chair, SPEC 2000 Task Force, and Technical Architect for United Airlines; Ken D. Porad, Program Manager, Permanent Bar Code ID Program, The Boeing Co; Ed Coyle, Chief, DoD Logistics Office, U.S. Dept. of Defense; Bob Mason, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Maintenance Policy, Programs, & Resources U.S. Dept. of Defense; and Rich Ouellette, Chief Operating Officer RVSI / CI Matrix.

Conference speakers will share points of view as to how suppliers of identification and data management tools can help provide new solutions for parts tracking on a global scale.

"Intermec is pleased to be able to host discussions for these important industry wide initiatives," said Munroe. "This Symposium will help guide Intermec and other vendors in how to best make new parts tracking technologies available to the more than 1,000 airlines, air frame companies and component suppliers who comprise the core of the aerospace industry."

About Intermec

Intermec Technologies Corp., a UNOVA Inc. (NYSE:UNA) company, is a leader in global supply chain solutions and in the development, manufacture and integration of wired and wireless automated data collection, Intellitag(R) RFID (radio frequency identification) and mobile computing systems. The company's products and services are used by customers in many industries to improve productivity, quality and responsiveness of business operations, from supply chain management and enterprise resource planning to field sales and service.

To learn more about how companies can benefit from Intermec's supply chain technologies, contact Intermec Technologies Corp., 6001 36th Ave. West, P.O. Box 4280, Everett, WA 98203-9280 USA; telephone [phone] or 800/347-2636; facsimile 425/355-9551; or visit Intermec's web site at www.intermec.com. To learn more about UNOVA, visit www.unova.com.