New Customer Service
Given the fact that launch contracts are not as plentiful as they once were, launch service executives are looking for ways to show a differentiated value to the customer within this intense environment. Are they achieving this? Maser says that "First and foremost, you want to be reliable." He adds, "You want to have a constant rate of operations. Those two things are just required to be in the business." In addition to high capabilities and quality of service, executives now want to offer creativity and flexibility to the customer.
Boeing Launch Services, Arianespace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. made a bold move two years ago by getting together and creating the Launch Service Alliance. The joint venture is intended to offer customers both schedule flexibility and mission assurance. Because of the dynamic nature of the launch market, customers can benefit from having more than one independent launch vehicle to choose from should the primary launch vehicle encounter any technical problems. The alliance option guarantees them a launch spot on another alliance member's manifest assuring access to orbit. On the other hand, should there be any delay on the manufacturer or operator side, the satellite will be guaranteed a spot according to its new schedule.
The benefit of the mission assurance option is to have already done all the parallel mission integration work as well as the export licensing work, to be able to seamlessly move from one system to another at minimal cost to the customer. For the price that customers would pay upfront, they get two things: a secured slot on the primary manifest with a guaranteed window on the other provider's manifest and all the mission analysis work, including mission dynamics analysis and technical information analysis for the spacecraft.
The creation of this alliance, however, required quite a bit of work on the part of the participating launch service providers. "It is not easy to form something like this with a competitor in the marketplace. You have to work through contractual issues and transfer issues that will allow you to reassign a payload from one service provider to another," says Mowry. "But although it does complicate the business model, such a partnership brings advantages to the customer and ultimately more launches to the alliance."
In terms of manifest scheduling, having these back-up contracts signed through the alliance also make the planning more complex. It requires launchers to carve out manifest for launches that are not certain. Reasonably, the alliance launchers are only willing to sign up for a certain number of back-ups because there is only a certain probability that those will turn to actual launches.
Given that the mission assurance through the alliance is a contractual option, customers' interest depends on their business plan, their procurement strategy, their maturity and their financial resources. Ultimately, it also depends on how risk averse they are. For instance, a company that needs to have its satellite up by a certain time will value this schedule assurance more than a company that can afford to be delayed or has excess capacity available.
The alliance paid off with the migration of DirecTV 7S between Arianespace and Sea Launch in order to deliver the payload to orbit on time.
And other operators are following in DirecTV's footsteps. Today, the Australian company Optus plans to launch on an Ariane as its prime and keep a Zenit rocket as its back up. Maser says "In 2005-2006 I think we will be seeing more utilization of this service alliance in particular between Sea Launch and Arianespace. Once Mitsubishi proves itself with its launch this year, it will become more active in the commercial market also."
Customer Service Spells Success
Even with a lackluster forecast for launch activity facing the global providers, none of them are bowing out of the game. Rather, all are focusing more on customer needs. That way, they not only maintain but become more attractive for new customers to sign on with them instead of the competition.
Julie Blondeau is the Managing Editor of Via Satellite magazine.
Email
Comments
Print
Reuse
