Piper Group opens first aerospace technical documentation centre of excellence in India

In November 2006, the Bristol based Piper Group plc launched a major new joint venture with the India's BAeHAL software company and asked me to prepare a press release for local media, aviation trade press, the Piper Group plc website and internal publications such as Airbus News. The release was as follows:

Piper Group plc, the Bristol, UK-based aerospace technical documentation company, has gained a major strategic advantage in the multi-million pound global technical documentation business with the launch, in Bangalore, of its new offshore Centre of Excellence (CoE) with Indian company BAeHAL Software Limited.

The Piper Group, a £12m turnover subsidiary of aerospace and defence giant BAE Systems, is a tier-1 supplier to Airbus Industrie, Rolls-Royce plc and other global aerospace companies. BAeHAL is an established joint venture between BAE Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In support of the CoE, Piper Group will provide training in data-management skills and marketing to gain new orders.

As well as representing the achievement of a key strategic objective for the Piper Group, the Bangalore-based facility, the first of its kind in India, will add to the company's wealth of experience and help its future access to expanding markets in South-East Asia.

Launched formally on 3 November with 30 aerospace specialists (recently trained by the Piper Group) the CoE will eventually employ up to 120 technical author-engineers and illustrators. Initial work will consist of technical documentation for Airbus, with subsequent growth coming from defence and aerospace contracts for clients such as Rolls-Royce, BAE and other major industry players.

Substantial orders for the Airbus A380 airliner, as well as significant cost advantages and BAeHAL's experience on Airbus projects, worked in India's favour when the location of the Centre of Excellence was being planned. The Piper Group's partner, BAeHAL, has previously worked on several defence projects including HAL's Jaguar aircraft and the MiG-27 as well as the Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) software for the A380.

Piper Group Managing Director, Andy Keefe said: 'With the launch of the new Centre of Excellence, Piper Group plc has achieved a key strategic objective – the opening of a managed technical documentation service in India. The venture, with its strong growth prospects in the maintenance, repair and overhaul sector, gives us a valuable head start over other UK technical documentation businesses.

'We believe we have a strong partner in BAeHAL; we're very pleased with the levels of co-operation between the two organisations and confident that the venture will be extremely successful for both of us.'