Bell Helicopter Textron - Case Study Example

Management system of Bell Helicopter Company One of the best helicopter company in the world, the Bell helicopter company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Incorporated. The company have over 50 year's experience of testing and flight innovation (Bell helicopter, 2006). The company makes commercial and military helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft. Bell's commercial helicopters seat between five and 15 passengers and include models designed for transport, emergency medical services, and search and rescue operations (Hoovers, 2006). The company has built some 35,000 helicopters since 1946 when the Bell 47 became the world's first helicopter certificated for commercial use. Bell aircraft can be found flying in over 120 nations accumulating fleet time at a rate in excess of ten flight hours every minute of the day (Bell helicopter, 2005). Model 210 Mission Homeland Security (www.bellhelicopter.com) Production Management 1. Bell helicopter company offers a team of product support engineers and customer service representatives, fluent in many languages, who are available for the whole day and whole week to assist customers around the world, thus allowing timely diagnosis of a problem and appropriate solution. 2. Bell Helicopter Company warrants each overhauled or exchanged component to be free from defect in material or workmanship under normal use and service. Sellers' sole obligation under this warranty is limited to replacement or repair of parts which are determined to sellers' reasonable satisfaction to have been defective within 1500 hours or operation or two calendar years after installation whichever comes first and reimbursement of reasonable freight charges (bellhelicopter.com). 3. Although the company is equipped with impressive manufacturing facilities, it depends on many North American and foreign suppliers who provide more than 500 million dollars worth of components or services annually. 4. The material team is composed of seasoned aerospace industry professionals who, by closely working with suppliers, ensure constant availability of quality supplies, to benefit both company's operations and its clients, while minimizing the inventory cost and the total purchase cost of these parts. 5. Aeronautical accessories Inc. provides aeronautical accessories designs, certifies, manufactures and markets a wide selection of quality helicopter parts and accessories for manufacturers including Bell, Eurocopter, Sikorsky, and others. The company supplies products directly to helicopter manufacturers for installation on new aircraft and to helicopter operators worldwide. Rotor Blade Inc. supports bell operators with quality blade repairs. RBI offers a 3-year, 2000 hour prorated warranty on every blade repair. 6. Bell Helicopter Company uses state-of-the-art equipment such as computerized and personalized systems for flight tests (CAFTA) or for new product design (CATIA) to meet its stringent requirements. The BHTCL Engineering Department possesses a unique helicopter-technology expertise. 7. The purpose of Quality Assurance in Bell is to provide total confidence that the finished product meets or exceeds given Federal Aviation or ISO 9001 regulations and that the product has been manufactured in conformity with Bell Helicopter Quality Standards. 8. The functions of Quality Assurance consist in quality-system evaluation of suppliers to ensure they fulfil company's requirements, receiving inspection, aircraft certification, non-destructive testing, gauge calibrating and corrective and preventive action programs. Quality Assurance is responsible for maintaining manufacturer approval on behalf of Transport Canada and is also responsible for the Aircraft Maintenance Organization. 9. Bell Helicopter is committed to airborne law enforcement, corporate, EMS, and Energy/Utility markets. Bell provides a specialist to ensure that customers have someone to rely on for their specific needs (2006). 10. For cost effectiveness in manufacturing, the company uses Business Objects to improve assembly operation performance. Business objects are used to improve enterprise performance management across every aspect of its business, from purchasing and finance to logistics and manufacturing, resulting in a strong return on investment for the company. Based on this success, Bell is expanding its Business Objects deployment with a supply chain extranet to its 1,700 suppliers and component manufacturers (2006). Human Resource Management 11. In the human resource front, Bell Helicopter Company has adopted a participative management approach. In order to implement this approach, the production management system has been structured according to a model based on sectors of activity into which semi-autonomous teams are integrated. 12. Team work is the guideline at Bell. Its main significant factors are team efficiency, synergy, cohesiveness and teambuilding. This approach enables more than 1200 staff members to work in a modern management company. This method is flexible and can be readily adapted to serve the vitality of a constantly evolving environment. 13. The Human Resources Division manages the following sectors: Recruitment, Training, Employee Relations, Compensation, Translation, Employee Benefits, the Medical Centre and Fire Prevention, Health and Safety, and Security. 14. For more than 50 years, the Bell Helicopter Training Academy has provided world-class, FAA-certified training at their facility in Fort Worth, Texas and at customer locations around the world. The company have trained more than 90,000 customers representing over 120 countries and every type of helicopter operation (www.textron.com). Operation management 15. Operations of the company are divided into two major sectors: Manufacturing Support and Manufacturing. Manufacturing Support includes plant Facilities and Maintenance, Shop Floor Control and Operations, Manufacturing Engineering, Planning, Projects and Tooling. Manufacturing, on the other hand, is responsible for the Paint Shop, Composite Materials, Electrical, Mechanical and Structural Assembly. 16. The Bell company has a Computer Aided Process Planning System (CAPPS) which is an on-line system designed to maximize the planners productivity and reduce the clerical effort required to prepare and release planning. The system uses the latest in data base technology and is the nucleus of Bell's integrated manufacturing system. Planning is automatically printed by the computer from a response from the Work-In-Process (WIP) System. A 40,000 man-hour savings has resulted in the Traveller Reproduction Department since the CAP System was installed. Planning effort has been reduced by a minimum of 20% (R.C. Jr., 1977). 17. To drive greater productivity and cost-efficiency, Bell has deployed an application using an i2 Technologies solution for Product design and sourcing. Bell uses Business Objects to access the i2 data and gain insight that helps them find the best vendor at the best price as they purchase parts for manufacturing. As a result, the company has realized the benefits of having a closed-loop sales and operations planning process. 18. The Bell Textron uses a new hover performance methodology which centered around a lifting surface analysis of the isolated main and tail rotors. The analysis features an improved calculation of induced torque, a refined treatment of three-dimensional compressibility, and a circulation coupled prescribed wake that permits application to a wide variety of rotors. With this basic methodology, total aircraft performance is built-up by considering airframe downloading, anti-torque and accessory power requirements, and power transmission efficiencies (Kocurek, 1980). Supply chain solution 19. Bell Helicopter implemented Factory Planner to streamline and accelerate crucial manufacturing operations and to get a grip on mismatches between supply and demand before they impacted work on the shop floor. The company formed five resource planning teams and assigned each team to a specific Centre of Excellence (COE) production unit. Those teams use Factory Planner, which is integrated with Bell Helicopter's legacy supply chain systems, to anticipate potential mismatches between part and material supply and to analyze the throughput demand of their respective COE. 20. Bell Helicopter believes strongly in the use of highly visual displays to help organize and communicate its supply chain activities. The firm employs large display screens so resource planners can easily project and review the output of Factory Planner and related tools. The planning teams collaborate closely with representatives from the company's manufacturing, industrial engineering, and material resource planning groups. The primary job of resource planners is to identify the problems, to work through them, to elevate them back to the demand owner if necessary, and to negotiate some of the realignment that may have to happen on the requirement side. 21. Implementation of Factory Planner has enabled Bell Helicopter to produce more precise and timely build plans, to streamline setup activities, and to more closely align supply and demand in the company's fast-paced manufacturing environment. The strategy is to identify upcoming production requirements early, and tracking of those demands against available resources, so as to accelerate parts supplies and refine production activities. 22. Bell Helicopter also leverages Factory Planner to track and optimize two key production metrics: output deliverables at each Centre of excellence, and what the company calls "opportunity to impact." Output deliverables measure the throughput of the COE, with particular emphasis on long pull inventory requirements and opportunity to impact focuses on ensuring that key manufacturing resources are available to meet required delivery dates, thus more precisely aligning supply with production demand. Customer care 23. As the world leader in rotorcraft design, production and support, Bell Helicopter sets the standard for service with the largest customer support network in the helicopter industry. (www.textron.com). The company's global workforce of more than 7,500 employees serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries. The company leverages its global network of businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services in industries such as aircraft, fastening systems, industrial products and components and finance. (Helis.com, 2002). 24. In 1978, Bell Helicopter and Flight Safety International completed an agreement under which Flight Safety took responsibility for the classroom and simulator training in medium twin helicopters. At the present time Flight Safety has visual and motion based simulators for the 212/412, 222/230 and 430 helicopters at their facility adjacent to the Bell Helicopter Customer Training Academy. 25. In 1996, the Customer Training Academy opened an 18,000 square-foot wing, providing much-needed additional office and classroom space to handle the heavy customer load. Traditional mechanic and pilot training has been the primary product of the Training Academy; but it also has the capability of producing state-of-the-art Computer Based Training (CBT). 26. The newly moved Bell Helicopter Customer Training Academy located at Alliance Airport has a staff and offices of 62 people, 7 helicopters;, 27 classrooms and laboratories, 3 Flight Training Devices, and the desire to deliver the highest quality products and services to the helicopter industry. It has been the quality of training and the genuine interest in the customer that has built the Bell Helicopter Customer Training Academy into the finest helicopter training facility in the world. (www.bellhelicopter.com). References WWW.bellhelicopter.com www.textron.com http://www.helis.com Hoover Online (2006). Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. Company Profile, Feb 9. R.C. Jr. (1977). In: American Helicopter Society, Annual National Forum, 33rd, Washington, D.C., May 9-11, Proceedings. (A77-40048 18-01), 8 p. Kocurek, J. D; Berkowitz, L F; Harris, F. D (1980). Hover performance methodology at Bell Helicopter Textron, American Helicopter Society, Annual Forum, 36th, Washington, DC, Proceedings ; United States; 13-15 May. 48 pp. Read More