Taking their top priority to even higher levels
Whenever someone from a vertical sensitive industry like aerospace or intelligence walks into one of StandardAero’s facilities, they are met with the same, consistent experience—supported by Sign In Solutions’ visitor management system.
The consistent experience gives StandardAero a competitive edge in their industry. This goes beyond typical security objectives, helping the company win more maintenance contracts because of how they manage each visitor’s experience at their facilities.
A complicated manual process
Prior to using Sign In Solutions, StandardAero relied on manual processes for visitor management and compliance. Further complicating things was that each of their 40+ locations had their own process, so nothing was standardized or consistent across the entire organization. “We wanted a system that was unified across the company to be compliant,” said Michael, Director of Compliance at StandardAero.
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“We wanted a system that was unified across the company to be compliant.”
Michael
Director of Compliance, StandardAero
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After reviewing Sign In Solutions’ platform, StandardAero rolled out the first pilot program at their Cincinnati location, testing the application for three months to ensure the screening and log-in was working appropriately. Michael also wanted to ensure that the on-site administrators were fully trained in how to use the system, and how to make adjustments to the system when they needed to.
This included an on-site installation and training session at their Export Services Representative Training Seminar in San Antonio to brief the company on the system prior to roll-out so that everyone understood the direction StandardAero was taking concerning visitor control.
After successful testing at their Cincinnati location, StandardAero rolled out Sign In Solutions across all facilities. For Michael, visitor screening took priority above all else, since staying compliant meant thoroughly vetting everyone coming on site. Sign In Solutions’ system also raised awareness about visitor control throughout the organization while delivering key reporting capabilities.
“The screening portion of the system is so important to us, as well as the ability to run a report at a minute's notice on who has visited the sites and what countries were involved by our guest, and the ability to see any red flags prior to the visitor actually entering the building,” said Michael. “It raised the importance of visitor control at each of our facilities that was not always there prior to Sign In Solutions, so made the business unit know that this was a high priority for us at the corporate level and that compliance was important to StandardAero.”
Compliance is the top priority
StandardAero’s maintenance contracts for aircraft and rotorcraft engines range from commercial aviation companies, such as American Airlines, to military contracts with the Air Force, and due to strict compliance rules in the aviation industry, compliance is one of the top priorities for Michael and his team.
After the events of September 11, 2001, the aviation industry experienced an entirely different level of compliance requirements, as stricter regulations were placed on aircraft engines.
Government bodies, from the Department of Commerce, Department of State and the Federal Aviation Administration and other aviation agencies throughout the regions in which they operate, put heavy emphasis on regulatory compliance, such as International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for military compliance.
This has required StandardAero to increase their level of sophistication in how they manage their visitor policy, who is allowed on their sites, and who can access the aircraft engines in their possession. The challenge, however, was how to maintain compliance and maintain visitor logs across multiple locations and companies under the StandardAero name.
“The nightmare was controlling 40 companies that are on different systems,” said Michael. “Due to all the code and federal regulations, we have to be very consistent in our visitor policies. Who is visiting our facilities, what background checks have we done, are they foreign nationals and do they have authorization to be in our facility?”
Deploying Sign In Solutions
The compliance team at StandardAero deployed Sign In Solutions across their entire company, and what they got in return was two-fold—compliance and consistency.
Now at any of StandardAero’s facilities across the world, non-employees are met with the same, centrally managed experience. While each company under StandardAero operates on their own, and has many of their own systems in place, when it comes to visitor management, Michael was able to standardize the organization on one platform, providing the same experience each time a guest enters a facility.
“What Sign In Solutions brings to the table is consistency, and every company works the same,” said Michael. “When you walk into any of our StandardAero companies, you will be met by Sign In Solutions. You would sign in, you will be screened, you will be alerted if you are a non-citizen of that country, and we would be alerted if there was a foreign national in the facility.”
StandardAero is required to hand over their visitor list to government agency inspectors, such as the State Department and Defence Security Agency, as they work with controlled goods. These departments are required to monitor and vet all visitors coming to one of their facilities. With Sign In Solutions, they are able to easily provide a digital visitor log upon request, which maintains their ITAR compliances and keeps them performing maintenance on aircraft engines.
Automating watchlists
As part of their screening process for visitors, guests are run through a federal watchlist check, ensuring that those coming in are the correct invitees, and are validated as safe to enter.
Prior to using Sign In Solutions, StandardAero relied on site reps at each location manually checking each person coming into their facility against their denied parties list.
Now, as part of their compliance obligations, each visitor is run through Sign In Solutions’ watch list integration, scanning multiple databases to ensure the highest level of security is achieved, without any manual process that could lead to an error. It’s one of the great features for Michael and his team, who said the new automated system alleviates the manual process of screening each visitor.
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“Compliance is our top priority. When you partner with a company like Sign In Solutions, it alleviates a lot of your compliance concerns because they do a lot of the background checks and record keeping. So, we have been very fortunate to have the support of Sign In Solutions.”
Michael
Director of Compliance, StandardAero
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Growth opportunities with Sign In Solutions
As StandardAero continues to expand, the Sign In Solutions platform grows with them, moving into each of their new facilities with the same experience. The platform has even helped StandardAero respond to the recent COVID-19 pandemic by screening guests and employees for symptoms and possible exposures before they enter the facility. This made Michael’s security investment a vital part of their health and safety process, helping them maintain their essential business throughout the pandemic.
Keeping business up in the air
With a visitor management system in place, Michael and his team can focus on critical operations while maintaining compliance with the many government agencies they have to deal with. Michael knows, if they don’t remain compliant, it means customers will pull out of contracts, bids will be lost and revenue will decline.
“If you aren’t compliant, the FAA isn’t going to authorize you to work on those engines, our partner OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturer] are not going to allow us to use their data to repair the engines, our customers are not going to want to do business with us if they see we have been fined or penalized, and we could be subject to disbarment with our military contracts, which would close down many of our businesses,” said Michael.
“So it [compliance] is our top priority. And the end result is it gives us that competitive advantage. When they [visitors] come in, they want to know how you are controlling your business, and they are very impressed when they come in and we have this automated system.”
Sign In Solutions helps partner OEMs maintain stable commitments by ensuring strict compliance with industry regulations. Its compliance-ready visitor logging automatically records visitor details, verifies identities, and captures NDA signatures, supporting ITAR and export control compliance. By flagging unauthorized personnel and integrating with security databases, the platform helps OEMs enforce access restrictions and meet regulatory requirements. These capabilities provide confidence in security measures, strengthening long-term partnerships built on compliance and operational integrity.
