Q&A: "Digital Tower is a next-gen solution"

Saab's Digital Tower is a flexible and scalable solution for a broad range of use cases, explains MATS PALMBERG, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India, in this interaction with CRUISING HEIGHTS

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Please provide a brief history on the presence of Saab in India's commercial aviation sector.

Saab's civil aviation portfolio encompasses Air Traffic Control (ATC) Automation, Digital Towers, Collaborative Decision Making (CDM), Efficiency and Communications and Navigation and Surveillance Systems (CNS). Saab has been present in the commercial aviation sector in India since 2011 and maintains a close and long-standing relationship with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and have provided ATM-systems for the 11 biggest airports in India.

In the aerostructures domain, CIM Tools has been one of the first suppliers to Saab, already from 2008 we have worked with them for machined parts. Over the years, Saab has added six more suppliers in India (Mahindra, Sansera, TAML and AAI). In addition, many of our Indian suppliers utilise their own Indian supply chain network for tools and maintenance, capital equipment, painting and process houses. 

Saab has also been working with the Indian supply chain to develop lean manufacturing modules. With the WP- A321 Plug Door, from the onset, we started the project on a design & build work package in India. All changes in the work package such as tool setup, tool changes, design changes, and time schedules were all mastered in India, which shows a great confidence in the Indian supply chain. We managed this successfully and are keen to develop this even further.

Saab India Tech Centre in Hyderabad provides a variety of advanced engineering services to Saab like stress work, certification dossiers, NC programming, prototyping as well as tool design.