B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 Day 2 - (Page 78)

N B A A 2 0 07 Eaton Is Increasingly Aerospace-Oriented Ten years ago, aerospace was little more than an afterthought at Eaton Corp., with a tubing, piping and parts business of just $167 million. Then it bought Aeroquip-Vickers in 1999 and launched an acquisition steamroller that has propelled its revenues to $1.6 billion this year, with more to come. Eaton’s aerospace business could top $2.3 billion by 2010, according to chairman and CEO Alexander M. (Sandy) Cutler. That figure doesn’t include any acquisitions the company will make over the next three years. “In all likelihood it’s going to be a bigger business than that,” he says. Eaton aerospace has transformed itself from a plumbing business to a provider of systems that draws on expertise from its four core businesses to offer OEMs electrical or hydraulic solutions that best meet their particular needs. This approach has won it a role on the Boeing 787, Airbus A380, Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter “The four businesses are hydraulics systems, fuel systems, electrical sensors and controls, and conveyance—which covers hydraulics, fuel, oil, air—whatever you are trying to convey and distribute across the aircraft.” —Bradley Morton, president of Eaton’s aerospace operations and Eurofighter, and a growing role on the next generation of business jets. “The four businesses are hydraulics systems, fuel systems, electrical sensors and controls, and conveyance—which covers hydraulics, fuel, oil, air—whatever you are trying to convey and distribute across the aircraft,” says Bradley J. Morton, president of Eaton’s aerospace operations, which are based in Irvine, Calif. One of his top priorities is program management, which has become even more critical as the company moves up the food chain from being a component supplier to providing complete systems to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). “Eaton will have a much broader portfolio of components to offer an OEM,” Morton says. “More importantly, we understand the components and can build that “Eaton will have a much broader portfolio of components to offer an OEM. More importantly, we understand the components and can build that into a system or a subsystem. We have engineers sitting side-by-side with Boeing engineers integrating the 787 fuel system into the wing, the fuselage, the tail section— all the way to the nacelle.” —Bradley J. Morton, president of Eaton’s aerospace operations Eaton’s components expertise, as in hydraulics, strengthens its systems offerings. into a system or a subsystem. We have engineers sitting side-by-side with Boeing engineers integrating the 787 fuel system into the wing, the fuselage, the tail section—all the way to the nacelle.” Two acquisitions in late 2005 expanded Eaton’s aerospace sales by 50%: the $333-million purchase of PerkinElmer’s aerospace segments and the $270-million acquisition of Cobham’s fluid and aero business. The purchase this year of aircraft engine fuel pump supplier ArgoTech for $695 million is expected to bolster this year’s sales by more than 20%, to $1.6 billion. While integrating newly acquired companies into Eaton is a work in progress, it offers an opportunity for cost savings. Some of its new operations are being consolidated at a new low-wage facility in Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border from San Diego. By the end of the year, 700 jobs—one-fifth of Eaton’s aerospace manufacturing workforce—will be in Mexico. Morton’s strategy is based around the belief that Eaton must be an expert in components in order to optimize systems for OEMs. “We must have component excellence to drive superior systems,” he told Show News. “Only that way can you optimize a system for weight, reliability, performance and cost. One of our roles is to help the OEM assess the balance between hydraulics and electronics.” Eaton’s first commercial integrated system was the total hydraulic system and components (but not the fluid conveyancing) on the Hawker 4000. Future acquisitions will bolster this strategy, says Morton. They will be targeted to fill areas where Eaton feels it needs more expertise, or where acquiring technology is more cost effective than developing it. Eaton is at Booth 4032.—John Morris 78 September 26, 2007 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 Day 2

Contents Spectrum Stresses Freedom Adam Shows A700 Cabin User Fee War of Words Execujet Boosts Services Saab's Got Your Back CAE Covers the Field London Airports Roundup Pratt & Whitney Canada Another Show! A More Digital Jeppesen CMC Rides Bizjet Wave Thales Weighs In We Fly the Eclipse 500

B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 Day 2

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