DHL to work with troubled airline parts company

DHL to work with troubled airline parts company    DHL Supply Chain said last week it is attempting to help a U.K. parts support company for the airline industry out of bankruptcy by developing a 'track and consolidation service' that will aggregate millions of parts around the globe into a single consolidation and distribution facility in Singapore.
   The company, Aero Inventory, has been placed into administration in the United Kingdom, with its business run by an administrator from KPMG. DHL said its services are aimed at helping the company avoid a 'fire sale' of its inventory.
   Until November 2009 Aero offered airlines such as Qantas, All Nippon Airways, Air Canada and Haeco a service involving buying, storing, leasing and maintaining an inventory of various consumables and expendables for aircraft components, such as airframe structures, engines, wheels, brakes, electronics and interiors. Aero purchased stocks of components from customer airlines and as part of the service, sold them back to the airline as needed.
   DHL's involvement will see the supply chain company uncover, recover and consolidate nearly 25 million parts and associated documents scattered across 100 locations, from places as diverse as El Salvador and China, and worth an estimated $420 million.
   'The development of a proper ongoing sales channel will enable KPMG to maximize the sales value of the inventory as well as give them the option of rebuilding Aero Inventory into a viable business,' the company said.
   DHL said it will create gateways in Canada, Hong Kong and Japan to consolidate parts released from Aero Inventory worldwide, and then ship them to Aero Inventory's single, global hub, which DHL will run out of its Aerospace in Singapore to supply airline clients all over the world. Singapore was chosen as the location for the hub due to warehousing and freight costs, and access to major air routes.
   'Since our appointment as administrators in November 2009, we have been restructuring Aero Inventory to put it on a solid footing for the future,' Jim Tucker, joint administrator of Aero Inventory and restructuring partner at KPMG, said in a statement. 'Reconciling the massive inventory spread across the world to the central hub in Singapore is the focus of the restructuring process and will give Aero Inventory's customers clear visibility of available stock and trace documentation.'