Saab extends corporate agreement with IFS

​Saab has extended its corporate agreement with IFS to position the Saab Group for new business opportunities. In addition to the corporate contract signed in June 2009, Saab will implement IFS Eco-footprint Management and IFS Export License Management, the latter as part of the Saab-IFS partnership offering. Under the terms of the agreement, IFS will call off SKr 11 million in December 2010, of which SKr 8 million pertains to software licenses.

Saab has been a customer of IFS since 1994 and has a long-term strategy of increasing its use of IFS Applications across the Group to achieve greater IT efficiency. Many Saab subsidiaries use IFS Applications for design and manufacturing, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), engineering, supply chain management, project management, and after-sales services.

The need to track environmental impact is often driven by regulation, corporate value systems, customer demands, and risk management. For Saab, this has been a focus for many years and the Group currently has around 50 different environmental targets and programs connected to climate change, the environmental impact of aviation, hazardous substances, and others.

"We chose IFS Eco-footprint Management because it is fully integrated with IFS Applications and can easily track environmental impact and critical substances included in the products’ lifecycle. When fully implemented, we will be able to improve our environmental profile and manage risks even more efficiently through the entire Group," Mats Hultin CIO, Saab said.

"Streamlining our systems will improve our offering and customer services, which is a continuous focus for the Group. Adding the new module, IFS Export License Management, to the solution is in line with market demands for even more functionality through the entire value chain," Mats Hultin said.

Saab and IFS entered into a strategic partnership agreement in 2009 whereby IFS Applications will be included as part of Saab’s support offering to the market. The partnership means that Saab’s support division, besides using IFS Applications for its internal processes, offers its customers various business models that include a broad spectrum of services involving IT and information management. One example of this is outsourced maintenance or "power by the hour", which means that companies pay for hours of a service, such as flying time, instead of having their own organization of workshops, technicians, spare parts store, and IT and transport services.

"Our industry focus, offering best-practice industry solutions to a selected number of segments, means we continuously develop IFS Applications in close cooperation with key customers such as Saab. Partnering with customers is part of this strategy and we are pleased to see that this is successful for both Saab and IFS," Glenn Arnesen, CEO IFS Scandinavia, said.

Aerospace and defense is one of IFS’s targeted market segments. IFS Applications™ provides market-leading off-the-shelf component-based solutions that support Performance-Based Logistics (PBL), Contractor Logistics Support (CLS), and Fleet Operator programs, as well as solutions for Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO), Asset & Fleet Management, Supply Chain Management, and Product Lifecycle Management.

Customers include the United States, British, and Norwegian defense organizations as well as the Eurofighter consortium. Commercial MRO shops and service operators include Bristow Helicopters, Aero-Dienst GmbH, K&L Microwave, Hawker Pacific, Ensign Bickford, Todd Pacific Shipyards and Lufthansa Technik Qantas (LTQ, formerly known as Jet Turbine Systems). In addition, IFS provides solutions to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, BAE SYSTEMS, Saab Aerosystems, and GE Aircraft Engines.

About Saab
Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services, and solutions ranging from military defense to civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents and constantly develops, adapts and improves new technology to meet customers’ changing needs. Saab has 13,300 employees. Annual sales are nearly SKr 24 billion. Research and development corresponds to over 17 percent of annual sales.

More information is available at www.saabgroup.com

About IFS
IFS is a public company (XSTO: IFS) founded in 1983 that develops, supplies, and implements IFS Applications™, a component-based extended ERP suite built on SOA technology. IFS focuses on agile businesses where any of four core processes are strategic: service & asset management, manufacturing, supply chain and projects. The company has 2,000 customers and is present in more than 50 countries with 2,700 employees in total. Net revenue in 2009 was SKr 2.6 billion.

More information is available at www.IFSWORLD.com

IFS discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Financial Instruments Trading Act (1991:980) and/or the Securities Markets Act (2007:528). The information was submitted for publication on December 2, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. (CET).

IFS, Box 1545, SE-581 15 Linköping, Sweden – Phone: +46 13 460 40 00 – Fax: +46 13 460 40 01 Industrial and Financial Systems, IFS AB (publ) is a limited liability company registered in Linköping, Sweden. Corporate identity number: 556122-0996

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