Aircraft manufacturer Airbus has signed a multi-million dollar contract with IBM and OATSystems for the provision of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system aimed at streamlining supply chain and manufacturing operations.

The world's largest RFID-enabled project follows trials carried out over the past year. Under the new system, Airbus hopes to see improved accuracy and automation of its supply chain and cost reduction via the downsizing of aircraft production.

The system is powered by service oriented architecture technology and is designed to streamline current business processes and gain real-time visibility into daily operations.

With the new RFID system, Toulouse based Airbus will deploy applications centrally at its distributed facilities or at remote third-party sites. Airbus has been using RFID to manage supply of spare parts since 2003 but has now extended use of the technology to its full manufacturing process.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.