By Calvin Biesecker
Boeing [BA] on Friday said it has agreed to acquire Tapestry Solutions, a small California-based firm specializing in real-time logistics visibility and logistics modeling and simulation, opening a new product and service for its defense business.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Boeing expects the acquisition to close in six to eight weeks.
Tapestry’s main products are the Battle Command Sustainment Support System (BCS3) and the Joint Deployment Logistics Model (JDLM). The BCS3 is the Army’s logistics command and control system that fuses various data into a common operating picture.
The BCS3 technology can track transponders that are on Army assets, such as trucks, trains, aircraft and even people to provide real-time tracking for improved situational awareness, Tim Noonan, director of Advanced Global Services and Support within Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems division, told Defense Daily on Friday. Information from transponders is sent to Tapestry’s network operations center in San Diego and then pushed out to users, he said.
If an Army convoy in Iraq takes a wrong turn, then the command and control center can steer it back on course, Noonan said.
The JDLM is a comprehensive logistics simulation and training software that allows users to wargame with finite detail, such as specific spare parts, logistics operations, Noonan said.
Noonan said there will be opportunities for Boeing to grow Tapestry’s programs as well as expand them into new markets such as homeland security.
Asset visibility during relief operations is one potential application, he said.
Boeing also expects Tapestry’s technology will enhance its own logistics and supply chain capabilities.
“Tapestry Solution’s data fusion, logistics and knowledge management products and services will enhance our global logistics support network,” Dennis Muilenberg, president of IDS Global Services & Support, said in a statement. “From point of origin, inter-modally into theater, to point of use, we’ll be able to offer services with better ability to pinpoint the location of assets wherever they are in the supply chain, improve predictability on arrival times, streamline logistics command and control, and reduce operating costs.”
Tapestry has about 350 employees, with about 150 of them embedded with customers and at operations locations around the world, including Iraq.
Tapestry’s financials were not disclosed, but a Boeing spokesman said the company’s revenues are expected to double between now and 2012.
The company will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing.