Having just been acquired by the private equity firm ParkerGale and investor Charles Picasso, Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP Booth C7018) is at NBAA 2015 to showcase its new strategic direction.
ATP, which bills itself as “the general aviation industry’s only single-source provider of information management and services for manufacturers, owners/operators and maintenance providers,” plans to significantly expand its product focus. Currently the company is known for aggregating, organizing and delivering regulatory, maintenance and parts information for OEMs, suppliers, owners/operators, MROs and regulators. Picasso, who is now ATP’s new CEO, plans to expand this business model to turn ATP into a services-oriented company.
From its beginning in the 1970s, when ATP began publishing light aircraft maintenance documents on micro-fiche, the company has grown into a distributor of maintenance libraries for almost all general aviation (non-airliner) manufacturers, including engines and components. The company evolved into maintenance tracking with its Maintenance Director software, followed by the NavigatorV software for accessing digital documents. ATP further expanded with the Aviation Hub cloud application in 2010, and now has consolidated its various offerings under the ATP Knowledge platform, which includes ATP Libraries, ATP Parts and NavigatorV.
Picasso’s goal is for ATP’s customers to manage all of their maintenance processes using the Aviation Hub’s software as a service capability. The Aviation Hub covers maintenance tracking, inventory management, maintenance forecasting and all of the maintenance document libraries that ATP offers. The ATP Libraries also include manufacturer service bulletins and information for all types of aircraft and their components, enabling customers to view this information without having to go to each manufacturers’ website, and thus ATP is able to become a one-stop solution for its customers. In doing so, the company aims to help its subscribers improve productivity, better control maintenance costs and enhance compliance with OEM maintenance needs and regulatory requirements.
“I’m looking forward to working with our partners and clients, who can expect to receive the same level of service excellence from ATP, as well as look forward to exciting new developments on the horizon,” said Picasso. “It’s an honor to take the helm of an organization with such an esteemed history in the industry and lead ATP into a new era of growth.”
If his resume is anything to go by, Charles Picasso appears to have what it takes to realize ATP’s expanded strategic vision. While chairman of the board at real-time network traffic and analytics software provider Narus, Picasso led “a strategic realignment that resulted in the company being acquired by Boeing Network and Space Systems as a subsidiary,” according to ATP.
Since taking over the helm at ATP, Picasso has joined the board of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 90 of the world’s aviation manufacturers and component/service providers.