Aircraft parts manufacturer B/E Aerospace is investing more than $4 million in cloud-based HR technology, as it starts to recruit more highly skilled engineers.

The company, which has gone through a rapid expansion, is rolling out HR technology from SuccessFactors to help it recruit and manage a workforce of more than 10,000 people.

The project will give the company a complete view of its workforce force for the first time and will pay for itself in less than a year, said Martin Ratelband, a director for HR at the company.

Never underestimate the business benefits. It means we are able to deliver parts to Boeing on time, then it will pay for itself very quickly, he said in an interview with Computer Weekly.

BE, which has seen its turnover quadruple to 3.4 billion over the past decade, began looking at HR technology in 2011, when it realised it was having difficulty recruiting skilled engineers and supply chain specialists.

Up until that point, the aerospace manufacturer had invested tens of millions in ERP systems to manage its finance and supply chain, but HR technology had been a low priority, said Ratelband, director for global compensation, benefits an HR Information Systems.

Securing funding from the company board was straightforward, he said. BE relies on innovation to stay ahead of its competitors, and that means having the right engineers with the right skills, he said.

We need engineers. We dont have enough, and we need to find them as soon as possible. We need to know where they are in the organisation, so we can use them [effectively]. It really is as simple as that, he said.

Managers love it. They spend a lot of time travelling and at airports, and they can get work done

Martin Ratelband

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Aerospace company turns to cloud in $4m HR IT project