NEW YORK, NY (May 20, 2010) – SSA & Company, a leading global operations consulting firm, announced today that it has teamed with Los Angeles based Mercury Air Group, Inc., a worldwide aviation services company, to provide airlines, airports, freight forwarders and business enterprises expertise in air cargo security and screening process. The teaming of SSA and Mercury combines significant experience in operational process improvement methodology with the hands-on expertise of air cargo operations providing its clients with significant insight into streamlining cargo operations in the most compliant manner at the lowest possible cost. Mercury’s subsidiary, Mercury Aviation Services, is the Nation’s first Independent Cargo Screening Facility under the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP), which effective August 1, 2010, will require the 100% screening of all cargo flown on passenger aircraft leaving the United States.

“…New federally mandated security procedures for carriage of cargo on passenger aircraft has added layers of complexity and cost which is estimated at over $1.8 billion to the domestic airlines alone…” says Mark Ozenick, Managing Director, Aerospace for SSA and Company. “…SSA and Mercury’s combined practical experience in this area can be leveraged by our clients to lean operations, reduce cost, mitigate risk and ensure complete compliance with TSA mandates…”

“Mercury is an industry and government – acknowledged expert and leader in cargo screening and has the distinction of being the first federally approved Independent Cargo Screening Facility in the United States…” said David A. Herbst, Executive Vice President for Mercury Air Group, Inc. While a number of facilities have been certified to provide screening in the 18 largest airport markets, airlines should anticipate receiving cargo that still requires screening. Our industry knowledge and SSA’s proven methodology in Lean Airline™ will allow our clients to be fully compliant with CCSP requirements at the lowest possible cost.”

SSA and Mercury intend to leverage their respective skills to jointly provide airlines and airports the benefit of their work experience.

About SSA & Company
Founded as the Six Sigma Academy in 1994, SSA & Company has continuously led innovation in the business process improvement industry. Its Strategic Process Management (SPM) approach to business improvement was developed in response to feedback and input from some of the world’s leading CEOs and business thought leaders, including Jack Welch and Ram Charan. SPM delivers results in 90 days and generates returns of five to ten times the size of the initial investment. The approach is rapidly becoming a new standard for process improvement, helping industries that have not historically focused on process improvement, such as insurance, retail, private equity and technology, uncover and solve major sources of waste.
www.ssaandco.com