Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 15, 2008 - (Page 84) FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 GE Brings ‘Tremendous Depth’ to Former Smiths to total energy requirements. Since General Electric bought “Going forward, we see the out Smiths Aerospace just over issue as being, ‘How do you mina year ago, a lot has been hapimize the energy to fly whatever pening, says John Ferrie. He is the mission is?’ whether it’s a milthe former president of Smiths, itary or a civil transport one. To be and now holds the title of presable to do that, you need to underident, GE Aviation Systems. stand both the sources and the uses “It’s been an interesting and of energy on the airplane, and then exciting12 months. I think GE be able to design the systems to are going to be very good ownoptimize that for the role.” ers of the business. They’ve got It is an important issue to be definite ambitions for us—and able to manage that total energy tremendous depth and capabilbalance, he explained, and to deal ity whether it’s geographically, GE’s John Ferrie, ex-Smiths. or on the technology front—and the financial with heat issues, especially in wholly composite resources to back it all. The integration plan has airplanes. “It’s also very important on military aircraft. been completed for some months, but we still have some IT systems to complete. This should You want to minimize their signature for surbe achieved around October,” he told Show News. vivability reasons. The exciting thing for us is Twelve months back, just after the takeover, that we are part of providing that optimized Ferrie told us it was “like being a kid in a candy answer for the future which provides endless store” as the parent company had a global tech- opportunities.” GE is very involved in producing equipment nology research capability. Now, he says, “We’re bringing that to bear in to reduce energy requirements. Its Continuous a number of different areas, which is great Descent Arrival flight management system is curbecause we’ve never had that depth of technol- rently being airline tested in Scandinavian and ogy access in the past. I tend to think of us as Australian skies. being application engineers rather than creating the fundamental know-how technology. GE understands the fundamentals of why the technology should work and that’s a tremendous strength. It will be a number of years before we actually see that in products, but we’re already thinking about ones we’ll take to market based on that technology.” Ferrie says his Aviation Systems division will unveil its version of GE’s “OnPoint” engine total support solution here this week. “The price of fuel is at least half of the cost of the cash operating costs of airlines, so they are looking to reduce through-life costs of aircraft systems more efficiently. We are going to apply that same management technology to aircraft systems and help keep aviation sustainable. This is a big driver,” he emphasized. The current fuel price crisis and green issues are driving his team. “We are all trying to fly for less these days, whether it’s less weight, less fuel, less emissions, less through-life cost, or less noise. “The big movement in aviation is the replacement of hydraulics with electrical systems. GE has the engines and we have the electrical power and the digital computing control know-how. This puts us in a pretty unique position: able to provide a totally optimized solution on the airplane going all the way from propulsive power 84 “The system is very accurate and four-dimensional, with the fourth dimension being time,” says Ferrie. “It enables pilots to have a non-interrupted descent (without stepped descents and with the engines throttled back) straight onto the airport, which saves hundreds of pounds of fuel every flight. The equipment requires some complementary capabilities in the air traffic control system, but is one of the building blocks for a ‘green’ contribution.” Ferrie’s division doesn’t do a lot of enginerelated work at the moment, but his boffins are working on innovative ways to take power from the engine in a more efficient way. His previously scattered management team has been working together at its Cincinnati headquarters from July 1. “Under Smiths we ran as a portfolio of businesses. It’s now much more highly integrated, and to be alongside the engine guys is a real advantage… “We are making adjustments to the work force in various places—part of the relentless search for greater efficiency and lower costs. “Twelve months ago I would have said the new company was on the runway and cleared for takeoff. Now I say, we’re through rotation and into the climb.” —Mike Vines July 15, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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