Flight-guidance and cockpit display-integration specialist Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S) is confident its recent deal to acquire manufacturing and repair rights for several Honeywell products will bring opportunities in both the commercial aftermarket and business aviation segments.
IS&S in late June revealed it purchased rights to manufacture, upgrade and repair some legacy Honeywell inertial reference units (IRUs) and navigation/communication equipment. The deal also included tooling required to make and repair the products as well as some inventory.
The IRUs are found in many legacy Airbus and Boeing models and business aircraft, IS&S President and CEO Shahram Askarpour said on a July 13 call with analysts. The nav/comm hardware is common on business aviation platforms, he noted.
“Just about everybody that flies those airplanes is going to become our customer,” he said. “That opens the door for us to gain a larger market share on our cockpit display systems as well, mainly on the aftermarket repairs.”
IS&S, which counts flat-panel display upgrades for Boeing 737 Classics as well as 757s and 767s among its offerings, will be manufacturing some new former Honeywell units for spares. The company also will be able to integrate the former Honeywell products into its own, streamlining upgrades it offers customers.
“In the past, when we did . . . upgrades on the [Pilatus] PC-12 [for example], we would actually go buy transponders. We would buy radios, navigation radios, communication radios . . . and include that in our offering,” Askarpour said.
Soon, IS&S will be able to offer more complete packages using its own products plus the newly acquired Honeywell hardware.
“We’re going to have to do some modifications to these to integrate with our own system,” he said, adding the work should take about a year. “But we have all the IP that allows us to do that.”
The company plans to keep Honeywell’s supply chain structure in place for now, but will evaluate in-sourcing opportunities.
“We have full in-house capability,” Askarpour said. “Initially, we’re going to continue with their existing suppliers. Long-run, we’re going to take a look to see whether it makes sense to bring some of that in and take more advantage” of its existing capabilities.
The deal did not include any Honeywell staff, IS&S confirmed. But the company will look to expand its customer support team to help manage the anticipated increase in business.
“Our plan is to strengthen our product support group, hire two or three people in that area,” Askarpour said.
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