Though Indian IT services companies, HCL and Cyient have vehemently denied their involvement in the development of the Boeing 737 MAX Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), they otherwise have a strong association with the US company. Both firms have a strong focus towards the aerospace vertical and have specialised offerings in the sector. Both the companies have acknowledged their strong relationship with Boeing, which is one of their major client.
Earlier, media reports were doing rounds saying that lowly paid Indian software coders employed by HCL and Cyient had designed faulty software for the Boeing 737 Max that resulted in the two deadly crashes leading to the loss of lives of hundreds of people.
“HCL has a strong and long-standing business relationship with the Boeing, and we take pride in the work we do for all our customers. However, HCL does not comment on specific work we do for our customers. HCL is not associated with any ongoing issues with 737 Max,” said a HCL Technologies spokesperson.
Similarly, Cyient also refuted the claims by some media reports that the company was involved in the software development for the flight test equipment and the design of the MCAS or the cockpit warning light.
“While we generally do not comment on individual client relationships, we take immense pride in our association with Boeing and look forward to growing our partnership with them across engineering, design and manufacturing, across various platforms. Cyient is honoured to be recognised by Boeing as their 'Supplier of the Year' in four of the past eight years,” said a Cyient spokesperson.
Interestingly, HCL strongly focuses on aerospace and defence sectors, and it is one of the most important vertical for the company. HCL is increasingly using artificial intelligence and analytics, and also Internet of Things (IoT) to help aerospace and defence companies. HCL is also helping these companies to create reliable and efficient supply system through consolidation of multiple procurement platforms and having adequate systems for supply chain visibility.
IT services company Cyient, on the other hand, has 20 years of experience in aerospace engineering and manufacturing, and has over 3,000 aerospace engineers. The company has delivered over 42 million hours of engineering solutions to aerospace clients. The company has hired around 1,000 engineers to cater to the aerospace clients in the United States. Most of these engineers have multiple years of experience with leading aerospace OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and system providers.
Cyient is also helping aerospace companies in improving their production rate through core engineering expertise. At the same time, it is also helping such companies in reducing their time to market its avionics capabilities that has resulted in improved development cycles and risk reduction in product development. The company is leveraging on digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, mobile, analytics, cloud, data visualization, and most data preparation to serve the aerospace and the defence industry.
