Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008 - (Page 33)

FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 ON THE RECORD— David Hess, President, Hamilton Sundstrand Hamilton Sundstrand: Eight New Airplanes on some of the very large programs. Business is booming at Hamilton It is also demanding precise manSundstrand, the power systems and agement of its own supply chain as power generation company, as it it integrates systems and delivers races toward the first flight of no them complete to the airframers. fewer than eight airframes this year. With these responsibilities comes Its biggest and most complex increased visibility. An unwelcome program to date—one that has spotlight targeted Hamilton Sundmoved it up the food chain and strand recently as the reason behind taught it a lot about supply chain Boeing’s delays in powering up the management according to presiDavid Hess. 787 Dreamliner for the first time, dent David Hess—is the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is due to fly in the an event that marked a major milestone in a program that is running more than a year and a fourth quarter. Its other major wins, worth billions of dollars half behind schedule. Boeing’s 787 program manager Pat Shanahan, over the next two decades or so, include the A400M, both versions of the Joint Strike Fighter, asked by the press about his major concerns the CH-53K helicopter, Sukhoi Superjet, the approaching power on, replied that he was conARJ-21 regional airliner, A350 XWB, Mitsubishi cerned about two areas: the power systems and Regional Jet, Black Hawk upgrade and fly-by- the brake system. “We certainly did not delay wire control system on the Sikorsky H-92, power on,” said Hess. “We did what we told him Boeing P-8, and the Gulfstream 650 business jet. we were going to do, and I think the results were Hess said that Hamilton Sundstrand’s strategy spectacular.” Boeing, he added, had been conto integrate systems is working: the company is cerned about the amount of work to be done, winning greater content on new aircraft platforms. not its quality or timing. “They found very few issues. They basically “The future for Hamilton Sundstrand looks bright,” he told Show News. “Over the last five found zero issues with our power systems, which years we have averaged 12% revenue growth and performed nearly flawlessly. They had a number about 15% earnings growth per year. Even of minor wiring issues that they were able to with some of the question marks on the hori- identify and fix pretty quickly and a handful of zon about the aerospace industry, I think we will other things, but none of them related to our hardware or software systems on the aircraft. outperform the market.” Nevertheless, success is taxing Hamilton Sundstrand’s program management and project engineering skills as it becomes a bigger player “We came through, and I think they were delighted with our performance. It really gave Boeing a lot of confidence in their schedule and continued confidence in us. Now we have a lot of work to do to get completely ready for first flight and get all of the qualification and certification testing done. We have got plans to support all that.” Hess admitted that supply chain management proved more complex than Hamilton Sundstrand had imagined. “It was an area where we needed to improve our capabilities, and not just at the component level,” he said. “Quite honestly, we probably had some growing pains, but we’re getting better at it, and we will be that much better next time around.” The company is already applying the lessons it learned from the 787 to the CH-53K, the Mitsubishi Regional Jet and the extremely complex Orion spacecraft (on which it is teamed with Lockheed Martin). Given its demonstrated skills at integrating large programs, it came as a shock when Hamilton Sundstrand recently lost its bid to develop NASA’s next-generation space suits for the Constellation program. It has supplied NASA’s space suits and life support systems for the last 45 years with nearflawless performance including Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon and more than 150 space walks. Space suits account for less than one percent of Hamilton Sundstrand’s revenues, “but this is a matter of pride,” Hess said. —John Morris Hawkeye Prop Prepped for E and H Hercules Hamilton Sundstrand is preparing to flighttest its NP2000 eight-blade propeller on a U.S. Air National Guard (ANG) C-130 by Lockheed, aiming for a market to retrofit 400 E- and H-model Hercules transports. The composite-bladed propellers have been installed on an ANG C-130E at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Flight-testing is expected to begin in JulyAugust and last four to five months. In service on the Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, the NP2000 propellers will increase climb rate and cruise speed, improve short-field performance and reduce noise and vibration. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is Hamilton Sundstrand’s biggest and most complex program to date. www.aviationweek.com/shownews July 16, 2008 33 http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

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Bombardier, Shenyang $5 Billion for Composites 787 and Seven V-22s for Export Sale? Saving Fuel at SFO Raytheon Roars Into UAVs Bell Eyes ARH-70A Costs All According to Plan We Fly the PC-12NG Russia’s T-50 PAK-FA Optimistic in Israel ICAO Sim Classifications Pratt to Power New Drone Russian Conglomerate

Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008

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