ESG

Interest in the software tool from ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH has spread around the globe. This was demonstrated in early May when Steven Worth travelled from New Zealand to Munich in order to find out more about ESG’s special software at the two-day international user gathering. In all, 51 representatives from eleven countries answered the systems and software provider’s invitation to find out more about this tool, a program which allows all of NATO’s material stocks to be managed locally. The alliance’s materials range from weapons and machinery all the way to furniture and clothing. ESG’s “NATO Codification System Repository” (N-CORE) is employed in seven of NATO’s 26 member states (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey). In each of these countries, so-called Codification Bureaus provide descriptions for all of the articles in the NATO goods catalogue, assigning each with a unique 13-digit supply number and providing information on the article’s manufacturers. Each new development and each change to these articles has to be entered, something which in Germany alone results in 20,000 transactions a day. Here in Germany, the armed forces’ own logistics centre in Sankt Augustin performs the function of the National Codification Bureau. In October 2002 ESG was given the task of introducing the N-CORE system into the German armed forces and ESG has been working closely with the logistics office on this project ever since. The challenges include the transfer of two million 13-digit supply numbers, approx. five million parts IDs and ten million descriptions into the new system. The ESG team, led by N-CORE project manager Totila Falck, used the two-day event to inform their international audience of the advantages of N-CORE. The participants were also given reports from representatives of the Codification Bureaus in Austria, Denmark and Germany on their experiences with the N-CORE system. The day before this N-CORE User Meeting commenced, the current user nations formed the N-CORE User Group at the behest of Colonel Wilfried Möller, director of the German Codification Bureau. This group will be responsible for coordinating all suggestions for changes to the N-CORE software and passing them along to ESG. One of the advantages of this system is that it allows N-CORE to be centrally maintained, thus allowing all users to benefit from the suggestions of the individual Codification Bureaus. ESG has been using state-of-the-art technology to plan, develop and integrate hardware-neutral electronics, software and logistics systems for forty years. With a total turnover of €160 million in 2003 and 1,100 employees, it is one of Germany’s leading systems and software providers.