What does PA do?
We deliver online banking systems, revolutionise energy markets, help prepare companies for stock exchange launch, develop innovative new crime-busting technology, transform manufacturing operations, streamline customer services, and support the delivery of multi-billion dollar defence projects. Our contribution often breaks new ground, and we have won numerous awards for our work.
Here you will find just a small selection of the type of work we do, in some of our major sectors, and taking place from Italy to Australia, the US to Singapore.
Financial services
PA and Storebrand create world-class remuneration system
Working closely together, PA and Storebrand were able in little more than a year to design and implement one of the most advanced shareholder value-based remuneration schemes in the Nordic region. PA helped with the design and implementation of this scheme through detailed discussions about the principles of MSV-based remuneration, sharing the insights gained through PA's annual international MSV survey of some 700 leading companies. A welcome by-product of this scheme was that, for all key staff in Storebrand, creating shareholder value is now high on their personal agendas.
Energy
PA helps the Republic of Singapore to revolutionise its electricity market
In one of the fastest yet most precisely controlled implementations of its kind, PA helped the Republic of Singapore to launch a fully competitive electricity market – the first of its kind in Asia – combining industry best practice with technical and business innovation. PA made three fundamental contributions: market design, programme management and development of IT systems. A multi-skilled PA team collaborated closely with clients and many more stakeholders on planning and trialling the new market, ensuring that the industry was able to face this momentous transformation with confidence.
Life sciences and healthcare
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals: supporting the first simultaneous NASDAQ/AIM listing for a biotech start-up company
PA supported the listing of Keryx Pharmaceuticals by providing third-party due diligence on its technology and products, explaining the science in a language that investors could understand. PA's independent expert's report is included in the issue document, designed to meet both UK and US requirements. The inclusion of such third-party due diligence is unique in an offer document for an initial offering on the US stock market.
Government and public services
Denying criminals the use of the roads though number-plate recognition technology
PA worked closely with the UK’s Association of Chief Police Officers, 23 police forces and the Home Office Police Standards Unit to develop Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) from initial concept to proven policing tool inside two years. ANPR has established itself as a powerful crime detection tool. During an 18-month pilot, ANPR teams made 16,570 arrests (75% for non-driving offences), seized 1,480 stolen vehicles, recovered stolen goods worth nearly £1.4 million, confiscated 329 weapons and detected over £3 million of excise duty evasion. Road safety benefits included detection of almost 5,000 defective vehicles and 46,000 driving offences.
Manufacturing
Nissan: Optimising production scheduling to achieve the unthinkable
PA worked with Nissan in Sunderland, UK to increase output efficiency while making optimal use of existing facilities. PA developed a scheduling system in close co-operation with Nissan and ILOG to enable the scheduling of a third vehicle model to be mixed along the existing two main production lines, while maintaining production of the Micra and Primera models. In parallel, the plant has realised an increase in the potential plant throughput by 30% without major additional plant investment.
Telecommunications
Cable & Wireless Communications plc: PA and Cable & Wireless design and build a billing query system
PA helped to streamline Cable & Wireless’s customer service operation by designing and implementing a new on-line system, enabling most callers to have their account queries answered immediately. The new billing query system was designed using PA's Integration Through Middleware approach, which integrates data from various databases residing in complex legacy systems and displays relevant information in ‘windows’ on a single computer screen.
Defence
Tenix Defence Systems: Unique approach delivers improvements to a highly complex project
Tenix Defence Systems is Australia's largest and most successful defence and technology contractor. Tenix won the ANZAC ship contract to build 10 frigates for the Royal Australian and Royal New Zealand Navies in 1989. The 15-year fixed price contract is worth AU$6 billion and is the largest defence contract ever awarded in Australia. PA worked with Tenix in multi-disciplinary teams to reduce rework through more detailed design, to increase pre-outfitting levels and to improve the supply chain. This meant that the new frigates were delivered within the agreed budget.
Transportation
Cathay Pacific: Agreeing a systems strategy creates bargaining power
Cathay Pacific Airways is an international airline based in Hong Kong offering scheduled passenger and cargo services to 49 destinations around the world. It felt that its 20-year-old systems were becoming a constraint to business growth. In order to keep up with the market and address competitive pressures, the company decided that change was required and asked PA to help formulate a systems strategy. With PA’s support, Cathay Pacific developed a systems strategy that allowed it to make better-informed business decisions, manage its supply contracts, plan resource requirements for implementation of the new replacement system, and exert influence on the supplier market and community, giving Cathay Pacific the opportunity to strike a better contract price and influence the vendors to build in, as standard, the functionality that Cathay Pacific required.
Further case studies – which also cover our work in more detail – can be found across the Services and Industries areas of the PA website.
