Helicopter manufacturer's new chief executive is refocusing on operator needs in bid to fight way back as market leader
All eyes will be on Mike Redenbaugh next week as he makes his first appearance as Bell Helicopter's chief executive at the Helicopter Association International's Heli-Expo show in Las Vegas. Industry watchers who have been waitingfor Bell to wake up to Eurocopter's growing domination of the civil helicopter market will be looking for signs that the US firm is ready to fight back.
As former head of Honeywell's propulsion engines business, affable Redenbaugh is no stranger to Heli-Expo, or to helicopters. But while Honeywell, as an avionics, engine and equipment supplier, is accustomed to following the helicopter market, Bell as an aircraft manufacturer is responsible for driving that market - something it has seemed reluctant to do in recent years.
That looks likely to change under the leadership of Redenbaugh - and that of his former boss at Honeywell, Steve Loranger, now chief operating officer of Bell's parent company Textron. While there are no signs that Bell will announce a major new programme launch at Heli-Expo, Redenbaugh will unveil a slew of product improvements intended to tweak the competitiveness of its current helicopters while, by being retrofittable, providing a fillip for existing operators.
Useful-load increases and operating-cost reductions across the product range are examples of one axis of Redenbaugh's attention since he took over as chief executive last May: reassessing customer needs. "What the commercial customers want is help with the products they have today. We need to make changes that will help them be successful in the near term. We need a retrofits, modifications and upgrades strategy." This will not sound unfamiliar to anyone briefed recently on Honeywell's Markey strategy.
As a result, over the next two to three years, Bell will certificate useful-load increases for the Model 206B-3 light single and Model 412 medium twin helicopters; introduce a host of improvements to the Model 407 light single to reduce operating costs; obtain European certification for the Model 430 intermediate twin to boost sales; and - at long last - certificate a single-pilot instrument flight-rules (IFR) version of the Model 427 light twin.
Product improvements like the 10% payload increase for the 206 are a "direct response to the customer", Redenbaugh says, and are likely to take precedence over new product launches for the next 12-18 months. The long-overdue IFR upgrade for the slow-selling 427 is also in response to customer demand, he says. "The customers said no IFR was a limitation."
The lack of IFR is the result of Bell's previous assessment of customer needs. "They were being responsive to what they thought customers wanted, but did not take a broad enough view," says Redenbaugh. Six Sigma process improvement tools, applied successfully at Honeywell, are now being wielded at Bell, both on the manufacturing and operating side. "Six Sigma tools help us collect and distill the voice of customer," he says.
A renewed focus on understanding customer requirements is likely to shape Bell's long-running Modular Affordable product Line (MAPL) initiative to develop a next-family of high-common helicopters. MAPL has been moved under the Bell Xworx research and development unit formed by Redenbaugh in December. "We have a heavy need for technology, so we formed a team with the full charter to be innovative in components, systems, aircraft, manufacturing and delivery," he says.
According to documents shown to analysts, Bell is working on two high-commonality light helicopters for certification "by the turn of the decade": the Model 351 five-seat turbine single and Model 382 eight-seat turbine twin. Nearer term, the company's new-product focus will be on the two distinctly different rotorcraft being developed under the Bell/Agusta Aerospace joint venture with AgustaWestland company Agusta of Italy.
Deliveries of the AB139 medium twin began at the end of last year following Italian certification in June, and US certification is expected by mid-year. Over 80 aircraft have been sold, more than half in the USA. The BA609 civil tiltrotor programme, meanwhile, will begin to pick up momentum at the end of the year, when the first prototype is due to resume flight testing in the USA, followed in late 2004/early 2005 by the first Agusta-assembled prototype. Certification is planned for 2007. Agusta's increased role in the programme is "all part of the original plan", says Redenbaugh. "They are a central player in the success of the BA609."
While Bell's agreement to assemble the AgustaWestland EH101 in the USA as the Lockheed Martin US101 is focused for now on the US presidential transport requirement, Redendbaugh sees its relationship with both companies as "strong and beneficial - something to build on".
Bell is beginning to fight back against Eurocopter, through internal efforts and its partnerships. The company will not release its 2003 delivery figures until Heli-Expo, but commercial sales were up by around 20% last year, he reveals. Redenbaugh adds: "Eurocopter is a very capable company. But we have a strategy to take Bell back to understanding its customers, which in recent months has been effective.
GRAHAM WARWICK /WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
