Winter 2011/12 as a PDF

Transcription

A MAGAZINE
FOR EMPLOYEES
WINTER 2011/12
The Magnificent
Your step-by-step
guide to our new
PacSci businesses
PLUS
Meggitt Sensing Systems’
President on thinking
beyond borders
US Army adopts Meggitt’s
IED-resistant fuel cells
Hydropower boosts
turbine monitoring sales
More land vehicle
conquests for Meggitt
ammo autoloaders
1
Altering our DNA again
Terry Twigger on how PacSci has evolved Meggitt’s gene pool
2
Border crossing
Profile of a President: Meggitt Sensing Systems’
chief on why an international outlook matters
10
The magnificent seven
Your quick guide to the new PacSci businesses
26
Ziesel’s zeal
Meggitt Control Systems’ new Voice of the Customer Director on customer satisfaction tools and processes
28
Queen of Lean
Kathy Pruitt, Meggitt Equipment Group’s new Director of Business Improvement, gives her perspective on the integration of PacSci business, OECO
30
Deadly reliable
Our auto ammo-handling facility wins another seminal programme
32
Smart Meggitt sensor to aid truck
emissions reduction
Piher gets smarter with custom-engineered solutions
34
Heatric scores with pioneering LNG and energy recovery projects Contracts at the energy market’s cutting edge for our innovative heat exchange specialist
36
Polymers flying high after
Buzzard success
Loughborough wins extreme environment seals business in the North Sea
38
After the blast
Aircraft to landcraft: Meggitt Polymers and Composites Rockmart continues to make inroads into blast-resistant fuel tanks for ground vehicles
5x
COPY
CAT
2x
44
2
THE
GRADUATES
28
36
MINUTES
30
POLYMERS FLYING
HIGH AFTER
BUZZARD SUCCESS
Star quality
Meggitt Polymers & Composites Rockmart is Manufacturer of the Year
42
BRICS billionaire bizjets boom
Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems flies high
The graduates
Meggitt’s first graduate recruitment programme focuses on engineers
After the pilot, the new programme rolls out across Meggitt
44
45
Change leadership
46
Gap analysis
Hydro’s hunger for Meggitt’s condition monitoring systems grows
Copy cat Factory focus: our electronics and targetry specialist in Ashford, Kent, UK launches critical boat targets and new jet engines for the Banshee, the classic aerial target
Dave Rivard tells Meggitt’s new fire protection and control story
54
MASTER
MANUFACTURER
DEADLY
RELIABLE
40
48
54
BORDER
CROSSING
QUEEN OF LEAN
48
x
Master manufacturer
58
Closing the gap between
training and reality
A new systems architecture from Meggitt Training Systems delivers new levels of realism in firearms training In two minds
Engineering director Ravi Rajamani explains his dual role
60
Altering our
DNA again.
A
nother exciting year has passed. In October, we
entered the FTSE 100—the stock market index
of the 100 largest UK companies. It had been a
corporate ambition for a decade. During that time, we
increased our workforce by 2.5 times, our turnover by 3.5
and our market capitalisation by nearly 6.5. In itself, it
means very little but it is an important symbol of success.
More significantly, we acquired Pacific Scientific
Aerospace in April—seven businesses that have
increased Meggitt’s scale, capabilities and manufacturing
reach. You can read our quick guide to PacSci from
enhancing established Meggitt enterprises. Combining
the best of both organisations has altered Meggitt’s
150-year old DNA again and our ambition to create
exciting professional development opportunities in
an increasingly international group is very much in
prospect. Peter Huber, Meggitt Sensing Systems’
President talks about the challenges and rewards of
working across borders on page 2. At the same time, Meggitt is a business that talented
people want to join. Amongst others, we welcomed
two new members to our management board at the
It is critical we manage the business we win today, becoming the ‘Gold’
class suppliers who qualify to bid on new programmes tomorrow.
page 10. It highlights our new fire protection and control
capability, embodied in a brand-new aerospace business
described by Integration Lead, David Rivard on page 54,
which enables us to provide much needed competition
in the sector and qualifies us to bid on new programmes
with the integrated systems our customers prefer. We have significantly increased our capability in
electric technology. In addition to electro-thermal ice
protection, to which PacSci adds system control, and our
established electric braking system capability, Meggitt
has acquired technology and know-how in power
generation, conversion and storage needed for the
lighter weight, more electric power systems that enable
propulsion engines to perform optimally and consume
less fuel. We now have more low-cost manufacturing
facilities—another in Mexico and a new facility in
Vietnam. As a result of transformation in the previous
year, Meggitt had deployed a number of common
policies and processes. Many of PacSci’s enhanced this
evolving management capability. Of course, it is people as well as processes that
make a business. With the acquisition, another 3,000
joined us, creating a refreshing new dynamic. We
are absorbing PacSci, developing its businesses and
end of January 2012—Amir Allahverdi, our new group
operations director and Haluk (Luke) Durudogan,
who succeeds Ken Schwartz as Meggitt Aircraft
Braking Systems’ President. Ravi Rajamani joined the
engineering team as a new group engineering director
in June 2011. He talks about his exciting dual role
spreading our condition-monitoring expertise across the
group and developing our engineering design centre in
Bangalore, India, on page 60. Sam Ziesel, a customer
satisfaction programme specialist, joined Meggitt
Control Systems in October as its new ‘Voice of the
Customer’ director. She talks about her approach on page 26.
Her arrival is timely. The challenges of 2012 are about
continuing to embed best practice in the business with
one aim: to ensure that we deliver what we promised our
customers. It must be on time, to the required quality
and at the best price. The bar continues to be raised by
our aerospace markets in particular. It is critical we manage the business we win today, becoming
the ‘Gold’ class suppliers who qualify to bid on new
programmes tomorrow. Terry Twigger
Chief Executive
REVIEW | WINTER 2011/12
1
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BORDER CR
BRAZIL
CHINA
DENMARK
FRANCE
Meggitt Sensing Systems’ President, Peter Huber is Swiss and his outlook is international like
that of the country where he is based. You can’t really be anything else when you are used to
looking beyond national borders for the specialists your hi-tech businesses needs to service an increasingly globalised customer base. The smooth-running of this most complex of
Meggitt divisions depends on it. D
istributed over 11 time zones, in
seven national jurisdictions, with
41 nationalities speaking at least
six working languages, Meggitt Sensing
Systems presents its President, Peter
Huber, with a headache: how to create
a whole from this complex of diverse
parts, which now includes Bangalore and
Shanghai operations. He knows it needs a
“high touch” approach but cannot conduct
the All Hands meetings he would need to knit
ten complex businesses together without
being on permanent tour. So he relies
heavily on the leadership of what he refers
to as ‘distributed’ functional managers to
fly the divisional flag at sites in France,
Switzerland, the UK and US—Derek Carbin,
Steve Harrington, Mel Hilderbrand, Stuart
Parker, Chris Pearce, Markus Pfaffendorf,
Xavier Monage and Tom Tillotson.
This requirement was thrown into
sharp relief after the transformation
programme, when the entire Meggitt
group was restructured. The role of
site-based general managers was
eliminated; businesses with complementary
2
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capabilities were integrated into single
divisions with centralised management
teams; and Meggitt became a matrix
organisation. The new management
structure delivered significant efficiencies
and customers applauded the ease with
which Meggitt could now be approached.
However, acceptance amongst employees
of less visible, non-site based senior
management lagged. “When a boss or
a colleague is 5,000 miles away and his
or her mother tongue is not yours and
cultural behaviour is different, we are all
pushed out of our comfort zones,” Huber
observes. An employee engagement survey
confirmed what he and his management
team suspected—that a large proportion
of the 1,450-strong workforce understood
the rationale for the new structure but were
uncomfortable with it on an emotional level.
As a result, Huber has delegated more
responsibility to sites. His management
team represents divisional interests
through strong, face-to-face All Hands
meetings, reinforcing strategy and goals in
designated factories. Some 50 managers
have attended Meggitt group change
management training programmes. There
are vibrant, well-read newsletters. “It
looks as if we are on the right path now,”
he says, keen to see the outcome of the
second employee survey that took place
in November 2011.
Nonetheless, Huber is convinced that
people are becoming used to diversity.
Broad projects like SAP Enterprise
Resource Planning implementation helps.
So do the increasing number of projects and
programmes being run together. “I don’t
question the travel bills, because you can’t
bond with colleagues over a phone call
or a ‘webex’. It is about working together,
I will be much more forgiving
of someone who does
not send me the perfect
internal monthly report
than someone who does not
go and see customers
CROSSING
INDIA
SWITZERLAND
going out together. This is how people
become comfortable.” Huber likes informal
networks. “You cannot rely on formal
hierarchies to run a business and you can’t
create a cohesive company culture through
a management process. You have to create
an environment in which it is built, bottom
up, in a natural and intuitive way.”
Huber believes the convergence
between full internal acceptance of the
new organisation with the enthusiasm of
Meggitt Sensing Systems’ customer base
is only a question of time. “Everybody
likes happy customers. Being able to give
them what they want, which can only be
achieved through the new structure, will
ultimately, be very satisfying.” He highlights
UK
‘under-critical’ business units. “Customers
appreciate our structure and know how
we will deploy large numbers of engineers
to solve a problem from a divisional pool
rather than one from an individual factory.”
Huber and his team have spent much
time addressing issues arising from
transformation, realising cost benefits in a
challenging economic climate and pursuing
operational efficiencies so necessary in
a highly competitive global landscape.
He is very wary, however, of too much
internal focus. “Any transformation in any
business is necessarily inward-looking.
But there comes a time to stand back from
the organisation, new reporting lines, new
functions, new processes and procedures
You cannot rely on formal hierarchies to run a business
and you can’t create a cohesive company culture
through a management process. You have to create an
environment in which it is built, bottom up, in a natural
and intuitive way
the division’s one-stop sensors shop. “Now
customers only have to talk to one sales
guy to get access to a broader portfolio.”
He draws attention to the contracts that
have arrived from the world’s engine
manufacturers that would never have been
awarded to the division’s former small and
and remind ourselves of who is really
important: the customer.
“I try to set an example. I spend a lot
of time with customers and I will be much
more forgiving of someone who does not
send me the perfect internal monthly report
than someone who does not go and see
US
customers.” Steve Harrington, divisional
head of operations, is driving a hard
programme focusing on customer service
to reinforce relationship-building. Huber
concludes: “Profitability comes from lots of
areas in a business, not least production,
but if you do not have a purchase order,
there’s no cost optimisation initiative in the
world that will save you.”
the criticality of refocusing on
customer relationships goes hand
in hand with the desire for ‘flawless’
programme execution, another focal point
of divisional strategy. The GEnx and Trent
1000 engines—and with them Fribourg’s
on-engine monitoring units—have just gone
into service with the A380 and Boeing 787.
The Trent XWB on the A350 isn’t far behind.
The highly complex engine monitoring
units known as EMUs are essential to the
engine-maker and those who maintain them.
Huber explains: “A business case
hangs on the effectiveness of our
monitoring units. If the engine maker is to
optimise profit from maintenance deals,
wear and tear must be predicted to
schedule maintenance economically. Our
EMUs must be reliable and we must be
able to support them fully in service, hence
the emphasis we are putting on effective
programme management.”
Resourcing the business effectively is,
therefore, essential. Huber has to counter >
3
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BORDER CROSSING
MSS operating board
Tom Tillotson, Vice President,
Human Resources
… aspires to be open and
communicative, visible and
accessible.
Steve Harrington, Senior Vice
President, Operations
… making a step change in
quality and on-time delivery
and driving best practice across
the division.
Xavier Monange, Vice President
of MSS compliance
… striving to be business ‘savvy’
while protecting companies
and individuals.
 Chris Pearce
 Mel Hilderbrand
Markus Pfaffendorf, Vice
President, Programs
… facilitating a joined-up
approach from a complete
programme team.
Chris Pearce, Senior Vice
President, Finance & IT
… investing in SAP to boost
communication and fulfil the
division’s promising growth
prospects.
Mel Hilderbrand, Senior
Vice-President, Engineering
& Projects
… overseeing a significant
evolution of technology and
products and supporting
improvements in quality
and delivery.
 Peter Huber
Stuart Parker, Senior Vice
President, Strategy,
Sales & Marketing
… transforming sales
methodologies, informationsharing tools, evolving structure
and process and extending
core capabilities into
adjacent markets.
Derek Carbin, President,
MSS Maryland
… sees growth prospects in
sight that could never have
been achieved without the
division’s inclusive and
collaborative strategy.
4
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 Derek Carbin
 Markus Pfaffendorf
 Xavier Monange
 Steve Harrington
 Stuart Parker
BOARD MEETING
 Tom Tilloston (second from right)
5
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BORDER CROSSING
> continued from page 3
a worldwide shortage of engineers and to
utilise flexible services to deal with the peaks
and troughs in airframe development and
manufacturing. He addresses both concerns
via Meggitt’s engineering design centre in
Bangalore. The 20% of engineering work
currently outsourced to the centre will rise by
another 10% over the next three years.
The division’s core capabilities,
however, will remain at the heart of the
business. Says Huber: “We will always
ensure that the really clever stuff is done inhouse to ensure that we can attract, retain
and grow our own talent. We must continue
to innovate and create intellectual property
based on the specialisations that have made
our name in the industry.” He says while
outsourcing is here to stay he wants more
engineers in-house, which means growing
the pool of available talent. ”I would like
to see fewer young people reading health
club management at university and more
studying engineering instead.”
Huber is proud of the quality ethos that
continues to run throughout the division.
“Most of our businesses have been making
aircraft parts for a long time. It’s one of the
things that must continue to be part of who
we are. All we need to do is replace a little
of the local focus with a more international
outlook and we’ll really be going in the
right direction.”
That international outlook is important
for customer relations and the smooth
running of the division itself. His senior
management team’s combined experience
delivers perspectives on the US, Europe
and Asia but he wants to expand horizons
at many levels. He explains: “If you are in a
line management position, you will probably
have to work with people in three or four
countries working in as many languages,
with many cultural undercurrents. In
engineering, even second-line managers
We are winning contracts
from the world’s primary
engine manufacturers that
would never have been
awarded to the former
‘under-critical’
business units
now have to collaborate across borders.
In production, managers are moving parts
around the world so our international
orientation touches 60 or 70 per cent of
our workforce.”
The direct customer base of Meggitt
Sensing Systems’ energy business—the
ubiquitous power generation industry—is
truly global. Aerospace and energy business
Where do you go from No 1?
Meggitt Sensing Systems, the world’s leading provider of sensing
and condition monitoring solutions for extreme environments, is
No 1 in aerospace and No 2 in power generation. It has a highly
specialised test and measurement capability that addresses a
range of markets which it continues to support. Over the shortterm, the division expects to add £100 million to its existing
£200 million per annum turnover, with double digit growth forecast
over the next five years. “This division represents a very strong
growth environment before we even talk about acquisitions,” says
Huber. “It is a great opportunity for ambitious professionals looking
for an international business in which to make their mark.”
Higher value systems
Meggitt Sensing Systems leads the aerospace sector in vibration
monitoring equipment, sensors and associated electronics which
are on all civil aircraft in service. All new aircraft models will carry
larger ship sets of the division’s higher value engine monitoring
units that sense a wider range of parameters. We will continue to
develop new materials which can operate better and for longer in
increasingly extreme conditions.
We must continue
to innovate and create
intellectual property based
on the specialisations
that have made our name
in the industry
More extreme sensing
Additional growth will come from increasing the number and
extent of parameters that can be measured through new sensing
technologies. These include microwave technology for tip clearance
and level sensing, optical sensing and piezo-electric paint.
Migrating monitoring from engine to airframe
Huber is most excited about migrating condition monitoring
technology from engine to airframe, specifically landing gear. Failure prediction and scheduling maintenance according
to wear and tear rather than at fixed intervals is as critical to
optimising performance and economics on a set of wheels and
brakes as it is to engine management. Consequently, Meggitt
Sensing Systems has collaborated with Meggitt Aircraft Braking
Systems to create a tyre pressure monitoring system.
To put the development into commercial context, Huber
explains: “The ship set value of the system, carried on every tyre
on an aircraft wheel, is higher than a sale of the simple engine
vibration monitoring system of yesteryear.” Huber is confident this
vital safety measure will see the technology becoming standard fit
over time and even the subject of regulatory mandates.
This division represents a very strong growth environment before we even talk about acquisitions
6
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is moving inexorably to India and China
where the division has burgeoning facilities.
Brazil is rising to the fore so an office in San
Jose Dos Campos, the energy heartland
and Embraer’s base, will open in the first
half of 2012.
“International business management
skills assume greater importance than
ever,“ says Huber, proud to have played a
role in the location of a module of Meggitt’s
Oxford Said Business School leadership
training programme in Bangalore this year.
For Huber, an international approach is not
about being a linguist (though this helps)
or to have a passport bulging with diverse
entry and exit stamps (though this helps,
too). He asserts: “It’s about being openminded. It’s about an attitude that says: I am
sensitive to difference and open to learning
about it. That’s enough. The rest comes
all by itself through exposure to different
behaviours. “ ●
Top: Xhevat Berisha performing a visual inspection of an
electronic board, checking the components have been
placed properly by the surface mount device
machine before soldering. Proper positioning and
a controlled soldering process are key factors in
determining the in-service reliability of an
electronics product.
Below left: This electronic board is a processing unit
for a timer and monitoring unit on a Bombardier
Dash 8-400—critical for managing the aircraft’s
de-icing system.
Below: An EMU (engine monitoring unit) for the
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000. This unit monitors a number
of parameters on the engine and operates a mix of
Meggitt and Rolls-Royce software to enable analysis
of engine functions and maintenance planning. Some
of the key parameters are routed to the cockpit for
pilot indication.
More boots on ground in energy,
with advanced solutions
The division’s share of the energy market, which involves
monitoring the condition of thousands of critical rotating machines
around the world, looks set to increase with newer condition
monitoring software that enables a range of specialised functions
to be integrated on a single platform. Direct sales will continue
to contribute to profitability, boosted by salesforce “boots on
the ground” in India and China, a proposed office in Brazil and a
planned increase in the division’s personnel in the Middle East and
Russia. The division is targeting turbine operators with high quality
solutions that replace or extend the functionality of the basic
vibration monitoring technology that comes as standard in original
installations. It will, of course, reinforce services to operators who
already own Meggitt equipment.
T & M back at the heart of the division
The division’s test and measurement business has a pedigree
stretching back over 60 years during which time its Endevco brand
became synonymous with quality and innovation. However, during
extensive reviews in 2010, it became clear that the business was
in need of a strategic refresh. This included refocusing activities
on core flight and engine test markets, which offer the greatest
opportunity for growth. At the same time, an initiative to improve
customer service levels was launched, investment in new products
increased and an aggressive recruitment campaign secured the
industry’s best talent. With these measures in place, and more
favourable economic conditions, double-digit growth was achieved
in 2011. Growth is expected to continue, putting this market back at
the centre of Meggitt Sensing Systems.
Medical business looking healthy
Meggitt Sensing Systems has always had a strong niche position in
the application of sensing to medical devices primarily associated
with heart pace makers. However, over the last few years a major
opportunity has crystallised in high intensity focused ultrasound
(HIFU). Based around the unique piezo-ceramic capabilities of
the division’s facility in Denmark, a new breed of non-invasive
ultrasound devices has emerged that could literally ‘re-sculpt’ the
division. Among the most promising is a new cosmetic treatment
approved by the US Federal Drugs Administration that allows
patients’ fat cells to be ‘zapped’ as part of waist reduction therapy.
The same technology can be used to remove wrinkles and the
effects of ageing with orders, strangely, now rolling in. Exciting as
the cosmetic applications are, another important medical use for
the division’s piezoceramics recently received FDA approval. This
HIFU device targets the 65 million glaucoma sufferers worldwide
and is intended to replace existing laser surgery with a simple,
accurate, non-invasive cure that takes one minute to perform.
Read about air gap monitoring on pages 46 to 47 in this Review and explore all Meggitt Sensing Systems capabilities in the group’s e-brochure on the Meggitt website. Look for the circular icon in black entitled Meggitt in a Minute.
7
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BORDER CROSSING
Changing
places
Peter Huber thrives on change, which
is just as well given the ebb and flow of
acquisition, integration, restructuring
and transformation that characterises the
dynamic Meggitt group. His background
as a former electronics apprentice, army
officer, missile systems tester and sales
and production executive in commercial
aerospace enables him to take a flexible
view of his business.
Watch Peter Huber on film on the Meggitt
website, promoting one of Meggitt’s core
values: “Investment for long-term growth”.
Around 15% of turnover is invested in
R&D at Meggitt Sensing Systems which
is “right up there with the best of the
aerospace companies.”
8
00
B
efore Huber joined Meggitt’s sensing
systems’ facility in Fribourg,
everything that flew for him was
an air defence target—the result of
extended military service in the Swiss
Air Force after an apprenticeship as an
electronics technician with a German
telecommunications company. Huber’s
mandatory 300 days turned into three years
as he progressed to non-commissioned,
commissioned and then ‘maintenance’
officer, training in broader electronics
systems. He regards the experience as the
best thing that could have happened to him
at 20.
“I was a lazy so-and-so and this was
the first time I had really been challenged
physically and mentally. I carried out
tasks—like 1000-calorie, 100 km-a-day
marches I thought would absolutely kill
me and didn’t. I learned to function without
sleep, with physical stress and little time
to accomplish key tasks. I got to know
my limitations and make up for them. At
the same time, I learned how to make the
best of others and work as part of a team
with people from all walks of life and to do
something together that was ‘brilliant’”.
Huber’s ultimate lack of enthusiasm
for the rigidity of army life made a career in
soldiering over the long term impossible. It
did not, however, deter him from Territorial
Army service until he was 42, leaving
him with a dispassionate appreciation
of process, policy and structure, vital to
underpinning the ebb and flow of change
intrinsic to successful adaptive businesses
about which he is passionate. “I have
particularly enjoyed the dynamic character
of Meggitt—being acquired, integrated,
restructured, transformed—all against a
An invitation from a friend to return
to Fribourg, Switzerland met with droll
questions about whether a career in the
region’s famous cheese and yoghurt
industries was preferable to working with
big hi-tech machines. Visiting Zurich on
business, he detoured to what was VibroMeter, meeting Dr Richard Greaves, now
Meggitt’s Group Director of Technology
The best job I ever had,
working in a million dollar
shooting gallery
& Engineering. Then Director of Sales &
Marketing at the Fribourg facility, Greaves
opened Huber’s eyes to the potential of
customer support in the smaller scale,
but equally as complex, technology of
monitoring and measuring. At the end of
a day-long discussion, Huber left with a
job offer. It marked the end of life in sunny
Florida but the advent of exciting new
horizons, despite the gloom of freezing
January fog that encircled the factory
reducing visibility to just six metres.
Vibro-Meter was evolving its vibration
monitoring activities at the time with
more complex electronics and additional
functionality, so customer support and
training needed to expand. Spares sales
came with the territory too. To address
this increasing exposure to mainstream
commerce, Huber started the first of his
degree courses in business.
Vibro-Meter, a private enterprise, was
eventually sold to a public company and
Huber acquired a ‘leadership development
challenge’ to ‘fix’ production, despite
I was a lazy so-and-so and this was the first time I had
really been challenged physically and mentally. I carried
out tasks – like 1000-calorie, 100 km-a-day marches I
thought would absolutely kill me
backdrop of market and product evolution.”
After the regular army, Huber worked
for Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin)
in Florida, USA, testing missile systems
with aircraft for targets. “That was the
best job I ever had, working in a million
dollar shooting gallery.” He progressed to
training customers in operation and tactical
maintenance of these weapons, building
up a large department until, as he puts
it, “peace broke out in Europe” and Cold
War low-level air defence for mechanised
troops lost its impetus.
protesting his lack of experience. Fixing—
modernising—involved developing solutions
with people on the shop floor, reinforced
by learning from the operations classes
that began, coincidentally, as part of his
Master’s studies. “All the good ideas were
there—all the knowledge needed to improve
efficiency.” Huber was pleased with what
was done but was exposed later to what
he describes as “really good production
management, from the likes of Thom Blum,
Steve Harrington and Helge Huerkamp, who
are really in a different league.”
He completed a five-year stint in
production before Meggitt bought the
business. Greaves acquired divisional
responsibilities. Huber took over as general
manager before undertaking an interim
role in the UK when Meggitt acquired
Lodge, now Meggitt Sensing Systems, in
Basingstoke, UK. Neglected by its former
owner, “the good news was that it was now
a core strategic business again.” And the
bad news? “That it was also core strategic
business again,” jokes Huber.
“If you see where we are today with
this company after the efforts of Steve
Harrington who took over from me,
followed by Annette Hobhouse and others,
you would never believe how far we had
come. Today, Basingstoke undertakes
the sensor package management for the
Huber acquired a
‘leadership development
challenge’ to ‘fix’
production, despite
protesting his lack of
experience
whole division covering Rolls-Royce and
Pratt & Whitney.” Huber ran the Fribourg
facility and carried on the restructuring
that took place as part of the group’s
“transformation” programme in 2010.
He assumed responsibility across the
division before Greaves became Meggitt’s
first group director of technology and
engineering.
Made to measure
Huber sees his professional formation
as the sum total of multi-functional
experience across technical development,
commercial production and customer
support and sales. His experience is at the
disposal of all on the Swiss campus where
he is based and other centres populated
by “highly talented people—some new and
some longstanding—who really know what
they are doing in our complex and very
compelling enterprise.” ●
Forging ahead on many fronts
Peter Huber believes the new divisional management structure that followed the
transformation process should enhance customer service, deliver significant
operational efficiencies and foster technological advance across a diverse range
of products. To achieve this, he relies heavily on his senior management team.
Tom Tillotson, Vice President,
Human Resources
The MSS Operating Board aspires to be
open and communicative, visible and
accessible. Our well-established quarterly
newsletters and all-employee meetings
have been supplemented by an innovative
programme of monthly employee forums
where we visit our operating locations
in rotation, enabling employees to talk
informally with board members.
Steve Harrington, Vice President,
Operations
We will create a major facility in the
US from two existing sites, extend our
operations in Archamps, France and
Denmark, move products between sites to
create specialist centres and make greater
use of our low cost Chinese operation. Our
dynamic SAP implementation, which saw
nearly half our businesses convert in 2011,
will enable us to make a step change in our
quality and on-time delivery and drive best
practice across our businesses.
Xavier Monange, Vice President
of MSS compliance
The compliance function strives to
be business ‘savvy’ while protecting
companies and individuals. That’s why we
aim for a common sense approach, while
ensuring all functions take responsibility
for reducing risk.
Markus Pfaffendorf, Vice President,
Programs
Programme management must embrace
all disciplines and functions. We are facing
fantastic opportunities with new products
across different sites, with the critical
success factor being a joined-up approach
from a complete programme team.
Chris Pearce, Senior Vice President,
Finance & IT
Our investment in the SAP global template
will boost communication over 10
manufacturing sites in six countries. This
new system will allow us to move forward
as a fully integrated division and enable
us to fulfil the growth prospects that
undoubtedly lie before us.
Mel Hilderbrand, Vice-President,
Engineering & Projects
There was a significant evolution of
technology and products in 2011—entry
into service of our engine monitoring
units on the Boeing 747-8 and 787 aircraft;
flight testing of the Airbus A350 XWB;
further development work on the already
commercially successful tyre pressure
monitoring system with Meggitt Aircraft
Braking Systems; and investment in
microwave sensing technology paying off
with Rolls-Royce who want it for turbine
speed sensing and fuel saving blade
tip clearance. In 2012—amongst many
challenging initiatives—engineering will
support MSS’s strategic advance into
integrated vehicle health monitoring and
make its contribution to improvements in
quality and delivery.
Stuart Parker, Vice President, Strategy,
Sales & Marketing
Our aerospace, energy and measurement
businesses showed double-digit revenue
growth in 2011, reinforced by fundamental
transformational changes in sales
methodologies, information-sharing
tools and evolutions in structure and
process. In 2012, we will extend our health
monitoring capabilities into landing gear,
aircraft structures and the growing field
of integrated vehicle health management.
Our energy team will benefit from the
launch of condition monitoring technology
upgrades for industrial gas turbines
and the opening of our Latin American
headquarters. Our test and measurement
business is looking forward to significant
growth following regulatory approval in the
US of revolutionary medical devices.
Derek Carbin, President, MSS Maryland
All MSS businesses have benefited from
becoming more closely and strategically
linked following transformation. Maryland
alone has increased intra-company
sales significantly, designing a key
sensor enabling the division to sell more
condition monitoring units to the power
generation markets. A divisional approach
to manufacturing and material sourcing
has increased everyone’s competitiveness.
I see growth prospects in sight that could
never have been achieved without this
inclusive and collaborative strategy.
9
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10
00
The Magnificent
In April 2011, Meggitt acquired seven
Pacific Scientific Aerospace businesses.
As the integration programme gathers
momentum, we take at look at who’s at
the helm of these smart engineering
businesses, what they make and what
the integration will bring.
11
00
Thomson
Aerospace
& Defence
Locations:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Barnstaple, Devon, UK
No of employees: 191
We are now standing on a
solid platform—Meggitt’s
complete understanding of
our customers’ expectations.
Add to this a renewed focus
on continuous improvement
and waste elimination
and we can position
ourselves strongly for
future profitable growth.
Nathan Hendrix, President
Thomson Aerospace & Defence
12
00
Below: Jeff Anderson validating a
mechanical actuation system that provides
users with performance data in real time.
Developing smart technologies is key to
TA&D’s leadership in next generation
electro-mechanical actuation.
Above: Bir Inder Singh inspecting electrical continuity and measuring bond resistance
between mechanically joined parts on an electro-mechanical actuator for proper grounding.
Our markets
Our products
Did you know?
•
•
•
•
•
•
The primary function of our products—ball
screws and electro-mechanical actuators—
is the conversion of electrical rotary power
into a linear movement or force. Digital
control of the electric motor enables small,
powerful, highly precise linear movements.
Attempting such movements in a hydraulic
system can lead to high pressure spikes.
Thomson Aerospace & Defence
products control the suspension
in Formula 1 cars, move the flight
control surfaces of jet fighters
and guided munitions, pin-point
cancerous cells within the human
body, manoeuvre spent fuel rods
remotely from nuclear reactors and
position communications satellites
with absolute precision.
Commercial and military aerospace
Military land vehicles and naval systems
Missile and weapons systems
Nuclear and petrochemical
Motor sport
Medical and other industrial applications
The way ahead
As the only business unit which still
shares a site and assets with our previous
parent, Thomson Aerospace & Defence
must develop a brand-new infrastructure,
systems and processes for its facilities
in the US and the UK. A new Enterprise
Resource Planning system, scheduled for
implementation in May 2012, will ensure
a smooth exit from its transition service
agreement with its former parent.
The design and manufacture of our
precision-engineered, extreme environment
ball screws is critical to ensuring the
overall actuation movement requested by
the pilot or system is completed efficiently
and precisely. On the Boeing 787 our ball
screws are utilised on the spoiler and in
brake actuation where electro-mechanical
actuation enables the system to operate at
high temperatures, eliminating the risk of
‘boiling’ hydraulic fluid.
Over time, Thomson Aerospace & Defence
will be leveraging its scale as part of
the Meggitt group to accrue benefits in
purchasing, manufacturing and engineering
and revitalise its core technology with
the state-of-the-art machinery needed
to enable it to bid, win and deliver on key
programmes.
Nathan Hendrix is a business leader and lean manufacturing specialist with over 13 years’
experience in a wide range of manufacturing management roles spanning materials
management; process improvement; and manufacturing system and Lean design and
training. Hendrix has also applied his skills directing sales operations. His last role
was General Manager for Orchid Unique, a $50M contract manufacturer of precisionmachined instruments for medical applications. Hendrix holds dual degrees in Mechanical
Engineering & History from WPI, Worcester, MA and, amongst other professional
development qualifications, is certified in Master Black Belt, Six Sigma, Theory of
Constraint and Lean from Brigham Young University.
We can move the equivalent of a
laser point from 25,000 miles away
as we position communications
satellites to line up precisely with
Earth stations.
Thanks to the manoeuvring
capabilities of our ball splines,
operators can move spent fuel rods
from nuclear reactors to cooling
pools remotely as part of servicing
and maintenance activity.
Our unique North Sea-tested
corrosion-resistant coatings for
the linear guides inside advanced
jet fighter throttles gives pilots
complete confidence in taking off
from aircraft carrier decks at sea.
13
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HTL
Locations:
Duarte, California, USA
No of employees: 225 (550 combined with Meggitt
Safety Systems under whose banner it now operates)
We are combining our fire
suppression systems with
the fire detection systems
of sister Meggitt company,
Meggitt Safety Systems into
what the industry wants:
a one-stop shop for fire
protection and control—and
a powerful new competitor
in this systems space.
Dennis Hutton
President, HTL
14
00
Above: HTL’s pressure gauges support its fire
suppressant line and a range of non-HTL hydraulic
and pneumatic applications.
Left: Kien Diep tig welding a fire extinguisher bottle
Our markets
Our products
Did you know?
•
•
•
•
When fire threatens an aircraft, in the
engine, auxiliary power unit or cargo hold,
HTL fire suppression Systems put it out and
makes sure that it stays out.
We protect fighting vehicle crew
—in the blink of an eye. Within
200 milliseconds or two tenths
of a second, our automatic fire
extinguishing system suppresses
fast fires in personnel carriers
breached by warheads or IEDs,
turning terminal events into
survivable ones.
Military and civil aircraft
Military ground vehicles
Missiles and launchers
Seat belt restraints
The way ahead
HTL, a fire suppression specialist and
Meggitt Safety Systems, the group’s
established fire detection specialist, are
being fully integrated to form a single fire
detection and suppression business by
mid-2013, when it will operate from one site.
A single management team, however, has
already been established and the combined
business units’ name is Meggitt Safety
Systems. The business has a great deal
of careful planning and implementation
to carry out over the next 18 months
associated with relocation to a state-ofthe-art facility that’s fit for purpose. In
the meantime, its goal is to maintain its
reputation for outstanding customer service
and to sustain and eventually combine the
spirit that makes both organisations great
places to work in. HTL and MSSI have a
tremendous future ahead of them and its
leadership wants all its employees to find
their place and develop with this highgrowth enterprise.
We are famous for blink-of-an-eye fire
suppression systems in military ground
vehicles ensuring that crew do not die in
fuel fires after survivable IED events.
Our restraints keep pilots, co-pilots, flight
attendants and military aircraft gunners
safe in extreme g forces and our pneumatic
systems ensure that passengers can open
emergency aircraft doors with ease.
Our controls provide pilots with a rudder
pedal assemblies with an unprecedented
adjustment range while allowing for
brake and rudder control on advanced
fly-by-wire aircraft.
Dennis Hutton graduated in economics before assuming aerospace supply chain and
contract management roles. While earning his postgraduate degree in management,
Hutton was appointed to lead Materials Organisation at Pacific Scientific HTL. He went on
to hold various operations leadership positions for ITT Industries and Crane Corporation.
During this period, Hutton honed his skills in business transformation, leading several
ERP installations, Focus Factory implementations and Six Sigma deployments. After
Crane Corporation, Hutton became General Manager at Eaton Corporation in the
Aerospace division. After a successful tour, Hutton departed and assumed the role of
President at Pacific Scientific HTL
When an F-18 fighter jet pilot
loses control of his aircraft in
combat, he pulls his ejection
handle, the canopy shatters and
our ballistic-powered inertia reel
hauls him back into his seat, spine
vertical and able to withstand the
force of the ejection rockets that
are about to propel him into the
atmosphere away from danger.
When you are flying for business
or pleasure, our fire suppression
systems are ready to do their
work below deck, detecting
and extinguishing fires in cargo
bays within seconds, emitting a
continuous stream of suppressant
to ensure they do not reignite.
15
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OECO
Locations:
Manufacturing: Milwaukie, Oregon and Hatfield, Pennsylvania, USA
Design centres: Goleta, CA, Milwaukie, OR, Hatfield, PA
Service centres: FAA-145 repair station, Milwaukie, OR
No of employees: 460+
OECO, with several PacSci
businesses, is delighted to be
strengthening Meggitt’s power
systems capability. Generation,
conversion and sensing
management addresses many of the
inherent requirements associated
with the trend toward More Electric
aircraft—and the demand for
effective power management in
specialist defence and segments of
the energy market itself.
Jeremy Davis
President, OECO
16
00
Above: Rayleen (Davette) Kennedy assembling and potting probes for
sensors. OECO’s low field probes measure the Earth’s magnetic field
accurately while its higher field probes are used for MRI (magnetic
resonance imaging) fields.
Above: Manh Huynh is precision rotor balancing a Permanent Magnet
Alternator (PMA) which enables rotational speeds up to 120,000rpm.
PMAs have dimensional tolerances in the ten-thousandths, equivalent to
1/15th the width of a human hair.
Our markets
Our products
Did you know?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
We generate, control and convert power.
Our sensing capabilities covers current and
position and we sense and measure, using
Hall Effect technology, magnetic fields.
The original (1969) moon landing
equipment included more than 500
high reliability electro-magnetic
devices from OECO.
Commercial and military aerospace
Military vehicles
Oil and gas exploration
Military aerospace including unmanned air vehicles and spacecraft
Defence, including ground vehicles
and missile systems
Naval applications
Energy
Bio-medical
The way ahead
The Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP)
implementation scheduled for May 2012,
has been one of the most significant
benefits of the Meggitt integration,
replacing three legacy systems, removing
the risks associated with multiple tools
and providing greater functionality. In
turn, OECO is leading the roll-out of VAVE
(value added value engineering) across
Meggitt. This process, which cuts the cost
of manufacturing through good design,
should save the group millions of dollars
from 2013.
We provide main and APU power generators
and associated control electronics for many
business jets, fighter jets and some UAVs.
We provide generators and integrated
starter generators for military vehicles
requiring continuous and increased
electric power.
We manufacture power supplies that
convert current from one form to another
for many missiles and fighters and large
military and commercial transports.
Our current and magnetic sensing
capabilities address the requirements of
military and space vehicles and solar power.
Jeremy Davis started his career as an environmental consultant before spending several
years manufacturing industrial coatings. After completing his MBA, he joined Eaton
Corporation, holding a number of roles in its aerospace and industrial electrical component
divisions. Davis joined Danaher Corporation in early 2008 to manage the Electro Kinetics
Division of Pacific Scientific, quickly assuming leadership of the OECO division as well.
Since then, the EKD and OECO manufacturing sites have been consolidated and sensors
manufacturing (formerly Sypris T&M) acquired. With his team, Davis is implementing SAP
and looking forward to growing the three combined businesses.
OECO power conversion products
are featured on all Boeing
commercial aircraft.
All our generators are brushless.
Some operate totally “on-condition”
thanks to an auxiliary bearing
system and patented bearing
failure sensor.
The highest demonstrated
reliability of a FADEC alternator is
an MTBF of 1,800,000 hours for the
CF6-80 fleet of engines.
The highest rotational speed we
have accommodated is 154,000
RPM with a one-inch diameter
rotor for a 2 KW output.
OECO power generation products
are featured on most Cessna bizjets.
Our sensing line engineers have
developed a tri-axial Helmholtz coil
to accurately calibrate Hall sensors
with minimal effort and time.
Our gaussmeters are used
by “ghost hunters” to detect
anomalies in magnetic fields
produced by paranormal entities.
17
00
Artus
Locations:
Design and manufacturing: Avrillé (Angers), Toulouse, France;
Bien Hoa, Vietnam; part share in specialist machining facility
in Wreznia, Poland
With the demand for electric
versus hydraulic power
tripling in the last 20 years,
Artus’ complete electric
motion solutions, with those of
sister PacSci company OECO,
are providing Meggitt with a
significant transatlantic power
systems capability, plus lowcost manufacturing options in
our facility in Vietnam.
Robert Perrin
President, Artus
18
00
Left: Aurélien Bréau preparing a rear flange for
the A400M converter
Far left: Gérard Gaultier, preparing a printed
circuit board assembly before coating for the
A400M converter
Our markets
Our products
Did you know?
• Aerospace
• Defence
Our high-power solutions to AC/DC
conversion, based on skilled internal
thermal performance management, are
standard on the entire Airbus fleet and
are probably the world’s quietest.
We supply the motors
for over 30,000 aircraft
passenger seats and will
supply the new generation of
first-class passenger seats
with up to one dozen electric
motors and actuators apiece.
The way ahead
Artus will work across Meggitt to
co-develop business opportunities,
particularly in power supplies and motors.
Our Vietnam facility, whose capabilities
have been carefully honed over 15 years
are at the disposal of the group and
will add a significant string to its lowcost manufacturing bow. With Meggitt
Sensing Systems’ LVDT (linear variable
displacement transducer) facility in
Archamps and our RVDT (rotary variable
displacement transducer) lines, we
are looking forward to marketing this
complementary position sensing capability
to key customers.”
Our complete motion solutions are based
on the design and manufacture of electric
motors, inductive sensors, electromechanical actuators and associated
electronics under one roof. We configure
and protect system components within
highly innovative lightweight packages,
often with built-in real-time test and
measurement features.
We actuate the folding of
blades on the NH90 naval
helicopter. Mounted directly
on the aircraft’s rotors,
our lightweight titanium
equipment exemplifies
the extreme environment
performance of our highly
elaborate safety-critical
kinetics.
The motors for the B787
electric braking system and
the sensor box of all Airbus
steering wheels are ours.
Before acquiring his Masters in Physics at the University of Science in Lyon, Robert Perrin
graduated in shipbuilding engineering from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques
Avancées. After working initially in chemical, offshore oil and gas and automotive
businesses, he spent over 30 years in aerospace and defence, joining Artus in 1992 as VP
Operations & Engineering, becoming President in 1995. Perrin says: “The most significant
and successful event in my professional life was the creation of an aerospace factory in
Vietnam in 1995, giving Artus the outstanding competitive advantage I am looking forward
to extending to the Meggitt group.”
19
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Securaplane
Locations:
Design and manufacturing: Tucson, Arizona
With our sister PacSci
companies, we’re
enhancing an important
new capability for Meggitt—
power systems—whilst
pursuing growth strategies
in new technologies that
extend our reach in aircraft
security and battery
charger technologies.
Shubhayu Chakraborty
President, Securaplane
20
00
Above: Mike Dinwiddie in an electro-magnetic interference) chamber,
ensuring Securaplane products don’t interfere—and don’t get interfered with—
by other electronic devices.
Above: Joe Stewart on the test “wall” that mimics the spatial
distribution of wireless nodes in a Boeing 787 cabin. The wall
enabled Securaplane to develop and test its pioneering
wireless emergency lighting systems for this aircraft.
Our markets
Our products
• Aircraft manufacturers
• Aircraft owners and operators including many business jet flight departments
Securaplane is pre-eminent in energy
storage, power conversion electronics,
camera systems, aircraft safety and
wireless communications and control.
The way ahead
While it offers pure lead acid mainship
batteries—the best conventional high
performance solutions on the market—it is
pioneering the advanced, low-weight, high
density lithium alternative, winning its first
business jet contract for this state-of-the-art
solution for the prestigious Gulfstream G650
in 2011.
With Meggitt’s connections and specialist
aerospace expertise, Securaplane can really
take off in marketing terms. We will absorb
the group’s best practices and transfer ours
to the wider organisation. We will play our
part in building on an emerging and very
important new capability for Meggitt—power
management for the more electric aircraft
—and continue to pursue growth strategies
in wingtip collision avoidance, HD cameras
and new charger technologies.
With batteries, come chargers combining
advanced power conversion. These offer the
highest input power quality and value-toweight-and-size ratio in their class.
Securaplane is also advancing aircraft
ground security. It provides worldwide
coverage using the international GSM
mobile network, providing real-time alerts,
interrogation and monitoring from any
telephone and guarantees significant false
alarm immunity through a patented method
of range-controlled radar detection involving
an innovative range of easy-to-install
patented high-reliability wheel well sensors.
Securaplane has developed wireless intranet
communications for critical systems such
as smoke detection and emergency lighting
and has developed significant expertise
in RF control and communication units to
command and control multiple devices and
interface with cockpit display systems.
Did you know?
Our low-weight, high density
lithium batteries reduce
aircraft weight by the
equivalent of one passenger
on the Gulfstream G650
Our Wireless Emergency
Lighting System (WELS)
for the Boeing 787 uses the
same wireless technology
found in the smartest of
today’s smart phones.
Over 2,000 airplanes fly
with Securaplane security
systems.
Shubhayu Chakraborty, author of SAE conference papers and holder of patents in
collision warning technologies, specialised in engineering automotive transmission
systems for much of his career, starting with cruise control systems for Eaton Corporation
from the late 1990s. He went on to undertake multiple roles encompassing engineering
leadership, project and programme management across many US plants before turning
to international business development roles in Brazil, India and Mexico. He honed his
general management skills in high growth business units on the ground in Brazil and North
America, before joining Danaher in 2008. After carrying out turnaround roles in multiple
plants across the US, he became President of Securaplane since 2009, enjoying hands-on
experience in sales and marketing that have led to multiple programme wins with OEMs.
21
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Sunbank
Locations:
Design and manufacturing: Paso Robles, California;
Maquiladora, Mexico
Sunbank will grow as
a premier supplier of
value-added conduit
systems, building on
its systems integration
capability.
Kevin Kuhn
President, Sunbank
22
00
Above: Jose Duarte, team leader for the Boeing
787 passenger service unit. Featured: one of
the 18 wire harnesses required for every
Boeing 787.
Above: Highly experienced Senior Assembler, Jesus Corral works on Boeing 777 landing gear
conduits. This piece consists of one box with multi legs consisting of clocking angles which
makes the assembly challenging to create.
Our markets
Our products
Did you know?
• Aerospace
• Marine systems
• Military ground vehicles
We design and manufacture complex
electrical interconnect solutions for extreme
environments. Our wired and unwired
conduit assemblies are low weight, yet
highly reliable, providing power and signal
transmission in harsh conditions while our
electrical interconnect accessories exceed
the in-service life span requirements
wherever they are used. Sunbank is also
known for its Air Dry air desiccant systems,
providing critical air supplies in marine
applications.
Our engineered wired
assembly solutions power
100% of the interior cabin
units on the Boeing 787
The way ahead
Our customers have diverse technical and
commercial requirements and will benefit
from the strengths and competencies
of a global organisation with aerospace
at its heart. With new access to greater
expertise and resources, customers will
see improvements to on-time delivery and
quality, waste reduction and significant
cost savings that will increase our
competitiveness.
Our conduit assemblies,
which provide braking power
to the world’s largest aircraft
and critical communication
links to military deployments
around the world, perform
at – 95°F to 500°F, do
not absorb solvents and
fluids and self-extinguish
combustion.
We ship over four million
electrical interconnect parts
directly and indirectly to over
3,000 customers worldwide.
Kevin Kuhn was educated to degree level in aviation maintenance management before
taking a masters in technical management. Since then he has worked in aeronautical
consulting, fleet maintenance, holding operations and production roles at Boeing where
he was formally trained in leadership. He left for complex transition and integration work
and a series of plant management roles, the last of which was for Eaton Corporation.
Over the last three years, Kuhn has engaged in wide-ranging business improvement
activity at Sunbank, including integrating site-wide lean manufacturing tools and
processes and perfecting product transfer to low-cost facilities in Mexico and Vietnam.
23
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Aviation
Services
Locations:
US: Louisville, Kentucky; Miami, Florida; Dallas, Texas;
Charlotte, North Carolina; Germany: Kassel;
UK: Maidenhead. These facilities are supported by a global
authorised repair network.
Our services command
a premium, not just
because we specialise in
high pressure vessel and
explosives handling, but
because our customers know
we keep our promises on
turnaround times for repairs
on critical safety equipment
and the supply of spares.
Amy Merkley
Vice President and General Manager
Aviation Services
24
00
Above: Juan Toribio disassembles a fire extinguisher.
Our markets
•
•
Commercial and military operators using Pacific Scientific Aerospace products and other OEM-manufactured safety equipment
MROs and repair station operations
The way ahead
We aim to continue to grow our existing
aftermarket business, deploying our
exemplary customer service provision
and leveraging our core competencies for
customers and Meggitt business units.
The Aviation Services model focuses on
utilising a geographic footprint tailored
to customers’ needs and we are now
identifying and evaluating opportunities to
bring greater value to our customers and
the group via this network.
Above: Joandi Castellanos welds a fire
extinguisher for reassembly.
Products repaired,
overhauled and stocked
Pressure vessels supporting various
functions within an aircraft
•
•
•
Oxygen bottles providing supplemental oxygen for the cabin
Pneumatic storage bottles for emergency equipment
Fire extinguishers for cargo, engines and APU compartments
Cable tension regulators for flight control
mechanisms.
Pilot safety equipment including seat
actuators, restraints and the cockpit masks
to enable a safe landing.
PacSci Aviation Services also provides
mobility equipment to airlines around the
world and portable oxygen services to
passengers.
Did you know?
Our employees offer our
customers more than 15
centuries’ worth of aviation
experience every day,
worldwide.
Our global reach allows us
to service customers in 92
countries every day.
Our service operations offer
repair services on more than
2,100 part numbers to meet
our customers’ needs and
we offer stock on more than
4,000 part numbers daily.
We enable over 65 airlines
and service providers in 270
airports to help passengers
who need special assistance
with wheel chairs and
respiratory equipment.
At just 23, industrial engineering graduate and Six Sigma Black Belt Amy Merkley set her
cap at a career in repair and overhaul operations excellence, leading a 75-strong APU
MRO team at Phoenix and developing relationships with major US airlines. Increasingly
complex management roles followed at Honeywell and Allied Signal. At Humana Inc
and Blue Cross Shield of Florida, she directed and became designated subject matter
expert in Continuous Improvement. At Eaton Aerospace and Honeywell again, she ran
several $100 million plus aftermarket businesses before becoming the general manager
and Vice President of Pacific Scientific Aviation Services where she has, with her team,
demonstrated how exemplary service can command premium pricing.
25
00
Ziesel’s zeal
Meggitt Control Systems has appointed a VOC (Voice of the Customer) Director
to consolidate customer feedback and address systemic service issues.
The timing is perfect. The division has just won several major contracts it is
determined to honour to the letter, aided by Samantha (Sam) Ziesel’s infectious
brand of manners and method.
Left: Sam Ziesel has spent 20 years developing, implementing and managing customer satisfaction processes and teams.
Right: Kevin Wright, Senior VP, Strategy, Sales & Marketing wants everyone as individuals to take responsibility for securing
customer satisfaction. “It is not just something the VOC director does.”
N
o agony aunt, Sam Ziesel, Meggitt
Control Systems’ Voice of the
Customer Director, is nonetheless
a self-confessed people pleaser. “I love
customer relationship work so I am
definitely in the right job,” she laughs.
Ballet-school trained, she is poised
and expressive. Pinning an audience with
a warm but firm gaze is second nature
to her. She’s just the sort of person to
troubleshoot customer issues and smooth
things over. However, there is steel behind
the warm exterior. Ziesel is a strategist and
fiercely analytical. She will trouble shoot
certainly but her aim is to help create an
organisation in which it is rarely necessary
to do so. She knows there is far more to
seeking out what customers want from
a business and addressing its expressed
concerns than day-to-day problem-solving.
26
00
British born, Michigan-based
Ziesel has spent 20 years developing,
implementing and managing customer
satisfaction processes and teams, working
by deregulation—she was posted in 1998
to the United States to create, implement
and manage a global customer service
organisation for it. Success there attracted
The customer is pulling out our scorecard saying:
‘Let’s see if I can let you have the bid’. That is very
different from the past.
in different infrastructures with varying
capabilities. Abandoning dance due to
injury, she used her voice to sell advertising
and her imagination to create ads, moving
into an aerospace technical publishing
business that tested her administrative,
marketing and people management skills.
After succeeding in a customer relationship
management role for SITA, an air transport
telecommunications company threatened
the attention of aerospace business Crane
Aerospace & Electronics (her last stop
before Meggitt) where she was employed
for four years to help the business address
the gap between perception and reality in
its relationships with customers.
Since joining Meggitt towards the
end of 2011, Ziesel—with Kevin Wright,
the division’s Senior Vice President of
Strategy, Sales & Marketing—has visited
the leadership teams of all Meggitt Control
Systems facilities, introducing the customer
satisfaction process abbreviated to “VOC”.
Wright emphasises: “The process involves
all functions. It is not just something the VOC
director does. As individuals, we must all
take responsibility for it.”
ziesel’s arrival is timely. Meggitt
Control Systems has had an extremely
successful 12 months, winning high value
contracts that will last decades, producing
hi-spec cooling pumps for Boeing’s
Dreamliner and multiple components for
Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan engine.
That engine will power the new Bombardier
C-Series regional jet, Mitsubishi Regional
Jet and Airbus A320 neo aircraft.
Wright observes: “Over the years, our
customers’ expectations have changed,
explains: “Our customers tell us a lot about
ourselves, giving us scorecards, inviting us
to critical design reviews, meeting us at air
shows and other trade forums. But are we
capable of assimilating all of it?
“Very often they tell us where they
are heading in terms of new markets
and opportunities and occasionally give
us clues as to what the competition is
doing but this information can hit us like
a scattergun. We may have five business
units doing business with one customer,
each receiving a scorecard. We may have
two or three people interacting with that
customer at a technical, managerial or
contractual level, in MRO, in the field, on
new business.
“A robust VOC process will enable us
to connect all those dots and be strategic
You come into work in the morning and what you need
is not there so you spend your day chasing people and
explaining to the customer why you are late. That is
very stressful.
with the bar raised on quality, delivery and
cost. These new business wins will really
exercise our organisation and test our
processes. In some cases, the customer is
pulling out our scorecard [a performance
report] saying: ‘Let’s see if I can let you
have the bid’. That is very different from the
past. It’s our performance today that will
earn us the right to bid on the programmes
of tomorrow.”
He emphasises the importance of
ensuring that Meggitt’s internal rate of
return is not reduced by penalties incurred
following contract breaches. “If we erode
the business case with fines, we will have
no business, which is why we have to focus
on the systems needed to help us keep the
promises we have made to our customers
on delivery and quality.”
The corollary is that Meggitt Control
Systems represents “lower risk to do
business with. We want to be a business
that commands a premium for its services,
rather than being categorised as ‘one of the
others’,” Wright asserts.
Wright is also committed to a proper
complaints escalation systems as part
of a broader VOC initiative because he is
convinced customers change supplier
as much for attitude as product. “If you
resolve problems in a timely fashion,
most customers will stay with you and
sometimes even refer you to other
organisations.”
the starting point for voc is a
comprehensive picture of how a business
is perceived by the customer. Ziesel
about problem-solving. It will also deliver
effective routes through which customers
can escalate problems and through
which we can proactively escalate issues
internally before customers become
frustrated.”
Ziesel feels employees’ as well
as customers’ pain strongly. “Nothing
frustrates a customer more than putting in
place the means of measuring us and then
seeing its suppliers waste the data. At the
same time, nothing frustrates employees
more than wanting to please the customer
only to be defeated by lack of process,
interfunctional dialogue and end-to-end
customer care processes.
“You come into work in the morning
and what you need is not there so you spend
Ziesel is a strategist and
fiercely analytical. She will
trouble shoot certainly but
her aim is to help create an
organisation in which it is
rarely necessary to do so
your day chasing people and explaining to
the customer why you are late. That is very
stressful. An effective VOC infrastructure
will deliver as much satisfaction to the
employee as the customer.”
Ziesel will work closely with the
businesses, keeping tabs on all customers,
at all sites, all the time. She will work
with Meggitt’s key customer relationship
While Meggitt Control
Systems’ customers’
frustrations will be dealt
with, employees who earn
their compliments will be
recognised
managers who focus on the group’s
strategic accounts. She wants to ensure
that divisional thinking is aligned with the
Meggitt business model and the strategic
direction of the group’s core customer base.
Ziesel is not promising to build Rome
in a day. She will listen to the businesses,
learning about products and long term
issues and identifying best practice. She
is digesting every customer scorecard to
tackle issues that can be addressed quickly
as well as devising a process for long term
follow-up.
Phase two will involve identifying how a
customer care infrastructure can interface
with existing processes—programme life
cycle and project management, quality
systems, forecasting and capacity planning.
Externally, Ziesel sees customers’ Gold
supplier development processes as
extremely useful.
“If these amount to operations
excellence tools that drive our business
more efficiently, then why reinvent the
wheel?” It is another manifestation
of joining up those dots to achieve the
end-to-end processes that expand the
effectiveness of employees’ efforts. There
will be a customer satisfaction index to
encompass scorecards and feedback
streams from various sources including
the key customer relationship managers.
Metrics will pervade the divisions monthly.
While Meggitt Control Systems’ customers’
frustrations will be dealt with, employees
who earn their compliments will be
recognised.
Ziesel’s mission is to create a
culture where everyone understands the
importance of listening to the customer,
supported by an infrastructure that enables
them to act on any concerns. She has
already found the enthusiasm of Meggitt’s
employees refreshing. “They really want to
succeed and VOC is the vehicle to empower
them with the right tools and training so
that adhering to contractual obligations will
be easy.”
“With the right systems in place,
we can expend our energies positively,
growing and sustaining true partnerships
with existing customers, underpinned by a
reputation that should deliver opportunities
from new ones.”
•
27
00
Queen of Lean
Kathy Pruitt, Meggitt Equipment Group’s new Director of Continuous
Improvement, is giving Meggitt the benefit of her experience of three Lean
implementations, while leading the integration of PacSci business OECO.
K
athy Pruitt knows a thing or two
about mechanics – from her start
as a Levi Strauss seamstress in
Tennessee, USA, where she used and
fixed sewing machines for 12 years, to
the pistons, valves and generators for the
Sidewinder missiles that launched her
career at Pacific Scientific OECO in 1987.
Women’s work
The trajectory included team leader,
supervisor and a facility production
management role that saw her lead, fill
in for or supervise virtually all company
functions from quality to helping HR.
This led to a role of some distinction in
1995: champion of Lean and continuous
improvement. In this role, Pruitt’s
achievements included project leadership
of a highly concertinaed six-week
development of product for a BAE Systems
all–terrain vehicle for Afghanistan; and
the consolidation into OECO of acquisitions
28
00
and product lines that included magnetics
and sensors from the Sypris test and
measurement business; and EKD, an
electrical power system provider.
Pruitt was first exposed to Lean when
Pratt & Whitney, having rolled out the
Toyota production system for PacSci’s EKD
parts in its Canadian facilities, launched
the system to EKD in 1995. Pratt & Whitney
selected the training talent from its supply
base, choosing Pruitt to lead the Lean
journey at EKD. Since then, she has been
exposed to many Japanese consultants
across several Lean implementations
and intimately involved in iterating
training materials—themselves the
subject of frequent kaizens (‘change for
the better’ practice).
defining a Lean and continuous improvement
system crossing all functions at Meggitt,
elements of which will be launched in
2012 across the group. Pruitt is looking
forward to evangelising a new constituency.
She does not seek glory. As she puts
it with characteristic simplicity: “If I go
home and do not feel that I have made
someone’s life easier and the business
better, I do not sleep.”
New congregations
While promoted at the turn of the year
to Director of Continuous Improvement for
Meggitt Equipment Group, she continues
to lead OECO’s integration pending the
Hardly surprising then that the Queen of
Lean is already a member of Meggitt’s
Continuous Improvement Council, which is
Pruitt’s Lean training
has taught her the
value of sustainment
and tracking processes
The kaizen cycle
The Toyota production system
is known for kaizen. All line
personnel are expected to stop
their moving production line
should any abnormality arise and,
with their supervisor, suggest
improvements to resolve it.
Standardising
an operation
and activities
Measuring
and standardising
operation (find cycle
time and amount
of in-process
inventory)
Continuing
the cycle
ad infinitum
Gauging
measurements
against
requirements
Innovating to
meet requirements
and increase
productivity
Standardising
the new, improved
operations
appointment of a successor. With sister
PacSci company Artus in France, OECO is
bringing the more electric technology on all
Meggitt’s customer roadmaps to the group:
power conversion, generation, sensing and
instrumentation systems.
Waste not, want not
Pruitt spent around two months planning
integration projects and revealing synergies
that have been encapsulated into 15 projects.
While the administrative aspects of project
development documentation (PDD) would
not be top of her list of favourite integration
The SAP implementation, she says,
while not strictly a synergy project,
will be transformational. “We had three
systems. Now we are getting one—and
one that is based on the Meggitt aerospace
template with all the necessary trade
compliance functions and other special
features built in.”
OECO has also welcomed HCL,
Meggitt’s engineering design centre
in Bangalore, with open arms. “It has
greater capacity and capability than we
have experienced with other outsourcing
enterprises,” Pruitt confirms.
If I go home and do not feel that I have made
someone’s life easier and the business better,
I do not sleep
activities, her Lean training has taught her
the value of ‘sustainment and tracking’
processes. “You can’t apply those without
PDD,” she says.
What really excites her is the ‘face
time’ she has had with every department at
several levels from directors to production
leads, identifying synergy projects and seeing
how the merger with Meggitt might drive
waste out of OECO and OECO drive waste out
of Meggitt. “It’s a two-way street,” she says.
“Both businesses have the knowledge and
tools to exchange and Meggitt is spending
the time and money to make that happen.”
OECO is pushing out VAVE (value
added value engineering) across Meggitt.
It has the process, which cuts the cost of
manufacturing through good design, down
to a fine art. Pruitt believes it could yield
synergies of at least $2 million from 2013.
Meggitt’s ‘Silk Road’ recruitment tool
has already enabled OECO to fill several
important roles without head-hunters,
exceeding its recruitment synergy target
very significantly.
Research into which combined group
low-cost facilities will most enhance OECO
competitiveness is still being undertaken.
However the 26,000 hours of work per
annum in PacSci’s Vietnam facility will
be increased by 8,000 in 2012. All final
assembly is done on OECO’s home turf.
VAVE could yield
synergies of at least
$2 million from 2013
OECO will continue to focus on the
consolidation that began pre-Meggitt,
getting the Lean basics right using kaizen,
policy deployment, value stream mapping
and the 5Ss.
Subject to the outcome of more
research and planning, more projects will
be unveiled over the coming months.
Bible bashing
In the meantime, Pruitt is already
thinking about her fourth impending Lean
implementation—more Lean for more
Meggitt. “We may not be ready to win
industry accolades tomorrow but very soon
we will have a foundation that will enable
us to capitalise on the tools we already
have, fill the gaps, bring it all together
into something that meets the particular
requirements of our group—and create the
Meggitt Lean Bible.”
Here endeth the first lesson.
•
29
00
Deadly reliable
Daybreak. A lone British Army Scout reconnaissance vehicle sits
silently waiting. Its 20-year old gunner has his finger hovering
over the trigger ready to deliver a 40mm round into an enemy
vehicle patrolling just 1,500 yards away. Any misfire now will give
the Scout’s position away. Gun failure is not an option.
30
00
Meggitt’s automatic ammunition-handling facility in California
has just won a programme that sees continued growth for its
unique linear linkless systems for ground vehicles.
I
n military parlance, it’s called “irregular
battle space” but to today’s soldier all it
means is that vehicles and crews must
often act independently—taking the fight
to wherever the enemy is. Staying alive
requires fast, flexible and reliable vehicles
and equipment.
To meet these needs, the British Army
has selected the General Dynamics UKdeveloped Scout reconnaissance vehicle
as the foundation of its next-generation
Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) force.
The new Scout is a medium-weight
armoured vehicle with a three- or fourman crew. Its primary mission is to provide
forward reconnaissance for the main body
of British troops.
The new-generation GDUK Scout
is lethal, quick, multi-utility and works
without fail. Equipped with the CT40 Cased
Telescoped Cannon System, it can fire 180
40mm rounds per minute.
so how does the mdsi’s linear linkless
ammunition handling system work?
Simply and elegantly. Each round travels
from the ammunition storage box or “beer
case” along a linear track until it reaches
the gun. Then the rounds are automatically
turned 90º and loaded into the breech for
firing. The system’s compact drive motor
also places very little load on the Scout’s
electrical system.
“Because it handles each round
individually, it eliminates jamming
problems,” explained Greg Hill, Director,
MDSI. “While this level of sophistication is
critical to the CT40 cannon’s capabilities,
it’s even more important to war fighters
in the field by giving them the confidence
in knowing their gun is going to work.”
Panasewicz explained that a variation
of the same MDSI linear linkless system
selected for the Scout has been in operation
on the US Army’s Apache attack helicopter
Ammunition rounds are roughly the size of two
tall-boy beer cans stacked end-to-end, weighing
upwards of four pounds each. This is serious firepower
Thanks to the selection of the Meggitt
Defense Systems Inc (MDSI) linear linkless
ammunition handling system by the
programme’s prime turret contractor
Lockheed Martin UK Ampthill, the Scout’s
cannon-and-ammunition combination is not
only fatal, it’s utterly dependable.
“I’d say that reliability is the single
most important goal of a modern gun
system,” explained Charles Panasewicz,
Senior Vice President, MDSI. “When a
gunner pulls the trigger, he needs the
confidence that 99.999 per cent of the time
that gun is going to fire.”
That hasn’t been the case with earliergeneration belt-fed guns – especially those
firing rounds larger than 20mm. Rounds
travelling on metal “belts” jammed or
misfired at an unacceptable rate.
Achieving that high level of reliability
is especially critical and difficult when
you’re handling ammunition rounds that are
roughly “the size of two ‘tall-boy’ beer cans
stacked end-to-end” and weigh upwards of
four pounds each. This is serious firepower.
The system requires zero
preventative maintenance
in the field so it’s one less
thing for the gunner to
think about
system. And with good reason: the system
is not only reliable, it is adaptable, giving
the LMUK turret designer team and system
suppliers the ability to create a turret
larger than that typically found on a
mid-size armoured vehicle.
since 1981 and has demonstrated
unsurpassed reliability in the field.
“The system’s failsafe record is
truly amazing. The typical unit routinely
fires 250,000 to 300,000 rounds between
failures,” he said. “By eliminating the belt,
we’ve eliminated about 90 per cent of the
ways a gun can fail.”
When a gunner pulls
the trigger, he needs the
confidence that 99.999 per
cent of the time that gun
is going to fire
The Scout features a full 1.7-metre turret
ring – the largest in this class of vehicle, which
not only maximises the space available for the
variety of display screens and equipment
required by today’s military, its ergonomic
design also greatly improves the comfort
and safety of the Scout’s crew members.
While it’s called “linear”, the system
actually tracks the ammunition rounds in
a serpentine flow, which gives designers
more scope for system layout. “The
layout of the overall weapons system is
greatly impacted by where this substantial
compliment of ammunition is stored,”
Panasewicz said. “The way our system is
designed, it takes up very little space inside
the turret, which frees up room for soldiers
and their equipment.
“The linear linkless system is designed
around human factors, so it’s easy for
the Scout’s gunner to load and unload
while wearing body armour and gloves
under battlefield conditions,” he added.
“Another plus is the system requires zero
preventative maintenance in the field so it’s
one less thing for the gunner to think about.”
Back to the future
While the Scout contract is the newest
application of MDSI’s linear linkless
system, it is not the first time the British
Army had experienced its capabilities.
The system was also part of the
oft-delayed Warrior ground vehicle
upgrade programme.
“We had been contracted by
Lockheed Martin UK to build some riskreduction demonstration hardware for
that programme,” Panasewicz said. “We
delivered the systems and the tests went
exceptionally well. In fact, the phrase the
Ministry of Defence evaluators used was
‘elegant simplicity’. Unfortunately the
programme has yet to begin.”
However, the capabilities of the linear
linkless system were not forgotten by
LMUK. When they won the contract from
General Dynamics UK as the prime supplier
for the Scout’s turret system, MDSI was
their choice for the ammunition-handling
The proof is in the pounding
Under the current development contract,
Meggitt Defense Systems will deliver
10 linear linkless ammunition handling
systems to LMUK to be used in the
integration and test programme on the
demonstration phase of the Scout project.
The long-term opportunity is for up to 245
systems, making it a significant programme
for the continued growth of MDSI’s linear
linkless system in ground vehicles.
“The demonstration phase of the
programme is where the true capabilities
of the Scout’s CT40 and Linear Linkless
system will prove out,” Hill said. “During this
phase of the programme, the Ministry of
Defence will put it through every possible
type of test it will see in the battlefield. We are
confident that it will prove to the British Army
and other allied forces that the Scout and
its systems are truly the future of all-round
excellence in reconnaissance vehicles.”
•
31
00
Smart Meggitt
sensor to aid truck
emissions reduction
77%
32
00
Half a million trucks from Europe will be manufactured with
Meggitt’s Piher Sensors & Controls’ technology onboard from
2013, helping to cut the energy consumed by each vehicle’s
water pump by 66%. This will contribute significantly to the 77%
reduction of particle emissions and nitrogen oxides required by
European Union ‘Euro-6’ emission laws for new trucks from 2013.
P
iher’s contactless ‘intelligent’
sensor monitors the position of an
electromagnetic induction clutch
for a variable duty-cycle water pump that
is engaged and disengaged to give a fine
degree of control over drive speed. Energy
is saved because water is only pumped
when the engine temperature requires it.
The contract, worth EU3.5 million, is
with Concentric AB, Birmingham, UK,
which specialises in fluid dynamics and
fluid power technologies for the likes of
John Deere, Volvo, Caterpillar and others.
environment; temperatures will average
150ºC; and vibration in the truck’s engine
compartment can amount to 10gs @ 350Hz,
while the sensor can withstand twice that.
EMI immunity
Immunity to electro-magnetic interference
is also guaranteed. John Adams, New
Product Development & Engineering
Director, explains: “More electronics
means more radio frequencies potentially
interfering with the functionality of
electronic devices. While our contactless
We can measure any rotational position in any
application with a degree of accuracy that indirect
mechanical contacting solutions cannot match
Piher’s progress
Piher’s Managing Director, Rafael
Fernandez-Ladreda, commented: “We
have the manufacture and adaptation of
commodity position sensors for consumer
electronics and automotive applications
down to a fine art, differentiating ourselves
from the competition with quality and
service. Growth will come from developing
high value, low volume business using new
technology to custom-engineer intelligent
solutions. This energy-saving sensor is the
first of a number of such developments to
come to fruition.”
Based in Tudela, Northern Spain,
Piher won the contract in competition
against other leading high-tech sensor
manufacturers following a detailed
requirements analysis, very rapid
prototyping and testing. Specialising
in rotary sensors measuring angles, it
demonstrated significant experience of
safety-critical contactless sensing work
in wireless steering, braking and throttleby-wire applications for agricultural
machinery, prestige cars and high-cylinder
motorcycles. This reflects substantial
investment by Meggitt in Piher’s research
and development and clean room facilities
for manufacturing and testing.
Performance despite
environmental extremes
The sensor will withstand significant
environmental extremes—an average
500 litres per minute of coolant will
be displaced within the truck system
within an extreme electro-magnetic
sensor works on a magnetic principle, we
have succeeded in making it immune to
extreme electro-magnetic interference.“
360° coverage
Conceived for direct 360° pivot-point
absolute angular sensing, the lowprofile sensor can be adapted to vehicles’
existing bearing and shaft mechanisms
without additional mechanical interfaces.
According to Adams: “Our sensor’s highly
adaptable interface means we can measure
any rotational position in any application
with a degree of accuracy that indirect
mechanical contacting solutions cannot
match. Conventional solutions often involve
Growth will come from
developing high value,
low volume business
using new technology
to custom-engineer
intelligent solutions
metal interfaces such as threaded bars
and levers but they are highly vulnerable to
mechanical wear, losing precision over time.”
These features means the sensor can
be used for highly accurate position and
control across a wide range of vehicles
including steering, steering-by-wire,
motor shafts and joysticks, pedals, lifts
and shuttles, throttle and exhaust gas
recirculation valves and gears, digger
buckets and ploughs.
•
G650 to carry
Securaplane’s
pioneering lightweight
lithium batteries
S
ecuraplane Technologies, acquired
by Meggitt as part of the Pacific
Scientific Aerospace acquisition,
has been awarded a multi-million dollar
contract from Gulfstream for its advanced
lithium-ion battery system.
The new flagship G650 aircraft will
be the first of Gulfstream’s fleet to feature
the technology that is 50% lighter than
conventional NiCad or lead acid batteries
and has a higher energy density.
Securaplane has calculated that the
weight reduction per ship set equates to
nearly one passenger.
The Securaplane system comprises
main ship, emergency and flight control
backup batteries with integral charging
and control electronics.
As the system comes with builtin monitoring, operators will benefit
from the opportunity to schedule timely
maintenance. With the lower fuel per
flight hour arising from the system’s
low weight, this reduces the cost of
ownership significantly.
Lithium-based systems have
demonstrated excellent performance in
safety critical medical applications and
essential telecommunications services
The weight reduction per
ship set equates to nearly
one passenger
but its profile in aerospace is growing.
Securaplane is pioneering lithium battery
technology on commercial aircraft,
developing the charger for the lithium main
ship batteries on the Boeing 787 through
Thales and, direct to Boeing, the aircraft’s
rechargeable batteries for the wireless
emergency lighting system. Securaplane
has proven non-chargeable lithium-based
primary batteries in wireless smoke
detection systems for Boeing’s 727,737,757,
VIP and cargo transports.
Shubayu Chakraborty, President of
Securaplane commented: “Gulfstream’s
decision to pioneer this exciting technology
is a very significant milestone in the
development of this technology in the
business jet sector. Like the large
transports, business aircraft will benefit
significantly from these lower weight,
higher performance systems that provide
opportunities for maintenance economies
over the life of the aircraft.”
The G650 contract is estimated to be
worth tens of millions of dollars over the
lifetime of the programme.
•
33
00
Heatric scores with
pioneering LNG and
energy recovery projects
As a leading supplier of highly compact and efficient diffusion-bonded
heat exchangers, Heatric landed substantial contracts in 2011 in
expanding markets where innovative suppliers only need apply.
Floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) is a revolutionary technology
that will allow Shell to access offshore gas fields that would
otherwise be too costly or difficult to develop. Prelude FLNG (100%
Shell) is the world’s first FLNG development. Heatric’s innovative
heat exchange technology has been selected for gas dehydration,
cold recovery, gas and refrigerant compression coolers and natural
gas liquids extraction.
Images: courtesy of Shell
Above: From stern to bow the FLNG measures 488m: its length is comparable to the height of iconic structures around the world.
34
00
PCHEs boost power generation from industrial waste heat
Shell LNG facility provides
Heatric’s biggest order
In November 2011, Heatric received its
biggest ever order—from Technip, part
of the Technip-Samsung Consortium.
It has purchased 18 printed circuit heat
exchangers (PCHEs) for the Shell Prelude
Floating LNG Project, the world’s first
floating liquefied natural gas facility.
The high duty, high pressure PCHEs
will be used for gas dehydration, cold
recovery, gas and refrigerant compression
coolers and natural gas liquids extraction
and re-injection. Weighing around 400 tons
in toto, they will be installed on the topsides
of the Prelude FLNG facility. The largest
exchanger will weigh about 45 tons.
At 488 metres long, 74 metres wide
and displacing 600,000 tons, Prelude will be
the largest floating offshore construction
While Heatric’s innovative
heat exchangers are light
compared to conventional
technology, they will weigh
around 400 tons in toto,
installed on the topsides of
the Prelude FLNG facility.
The largest will weigh
about 45 tons.
in the world. It will be moored over 200
kilometres offshore from north west
Australia in about 250 metres. It has
been built to withstand the most powerful
cyclones and wave heights of 20 metres.
Production is scheduled to start in 2017.
The contract win follows more than
10 years’ successful operation of PCHEs
in a number of onshore LNG facilities for
Shell and other clients. Heatric anticipates
further LNG recovery opportunities in
Australian waters.
In May 2011, Heatric received an order
to supply Echogen Power Systems Inc
of Akron, Ohio with PCHEs for Echogen’s
Supercritical CO 2 (ScCO 2) power generation
cycle. Manufacture is nearing completion,
with delivery and testing scheduled for
the first half of 2012.
significantly reduce the demand which
heavy power consumers place on the grid.
Heatric has supplied more than
1700 PCHEs worldwide over the last 25
years, serving some of the world’s largest
customers in the oil, gas and petrochemical
industries. Over the years, the requirement
The combination of pressure capability and high
efficiency provided by Heatric technology has
a highly promising future in waste heat recovery
Echogen’s power generation system
converts industrial waste heat into
electricity, using supercritical CO 2 as
the working fluid and without creating
new emissions. Heatric’s PCHEs are
integral to a highly efficient process which
transfers more of the waste heat into
electricity than would be possible with
non-supercritical fluids.
Carbon dioxide becomes supercritical
when its temperature and pressure are
raised beyond the critical point above which
distinct phase boundaries cease to exist
and fluids exhibit properties similar to both
liquids and gases at the same time.
In the Echogen system, liquid CO 2 is
pumped to supercritical pressure, where
it accepts internally recycled heat at the
recuperator, followed by waste heat from
the hot flue gas supply. High energy ScCO 2
is then expanded through a turbine, which
drives a generator to produce electrical
power to customer specifications.
The expanded ScCO 2 is cooled at the
recuperator and condensed to a liquid at
the condenser. Then the cycle begins again.
Heatric PCHEs are used for the
recuperating and condensing heat transfer
services at pressures over 200 times
atmospheric pressure. They allow greater
heat recovery and process efficiency than
other heat exchangers, with the resultant
electricity produced at a lower cost per
unit. If widely utilised, such systems could
for heat exchangers has fluctuated with
the demand for oil and gas. Consequently,
Heatric has been seeking to broaden
the range of applicable market sectors for
its technology.
The combination of pressure capability
and high efficiency provided by Heatric
technology has a highly promising future
in waste heat recovery. Major targets
are systems in gas turbine installations
associated with gas pipelines and power
stations; and furnace chimneys in steel
mills and glass factories where heat would
normally be lost to the atmosphere.
The compact size of Heatric’s PCHEs
allows systems to be retro-fitted more
easily to existing industrial facilities.
Heatric’s UK headquarters is in Poole
and its USA office is in Houston.
Echogen, a private company founded
in 2007, specialises in proprietary waste
heat recovery systems. Dresser-Rand, one
of the world’s largest suppliers of rotating
equipment for the oil and gas industry
provides the turbo-expanders to be used in
the Echogen waste heat recovery system. ●
Below: Echogen’s power generation system
converts industrial waste into electricity
using Heatric’s compact printed heat
exchange technology. Widely utilised, this
could reduce significantly the demand which
heavy power consumers place on the grid.
COOLED
FLUE GAS
ECHOGEN HEAT ENGINE SKID
RECUPERATOR
PUMP
WASTE HEAT
EXCHANGER
CONDENSOR
COOLING
WATER
SUPPLY
GENERATOR
COOLING
WATER
RETURN
GEAR
TURBINE
FLUE GAS
SUPPLY
NET POWER
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MINUTES
Bestobell Jetfire seals, which made up 95 per cent
of the contract, can withstand fires with peak
temperatures of 1550°C for up to 60 minutes.
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Polymers flying high
after Buzzard success
Meggitt’s polymers and composites division has a strong—and highly profitable—technical
polymers capability. Power plant seals for nuclear attack submarines, atomic weapons
facility door seals, seals for space shuttle docking stations—polymers, in short, for extreme
environments and safety-critical operations. As common to the oil and gas industry as Hoover
is to vacuum cleaning, Meggitt’s Bestobell Oilfield Products lines continue to be synonymous
with the fire-proof seals deployed on fire-proof oil and gas platforms.
A
rapidly spreading fire on a rig full of
flammable hydrocarbons is every oil
worker’s nightmare. With platforms
often located in isolated parts of the world
at the mercy of roaring winds and high
seas, battling a blaze can be impossible
and evacuation extremely difficult. Taking
preventative action to protect against fires
is therefore of utmost importance in the oil
and gas industry.
Meggitt’s Bestobell Oilfield Products
lines may not be that well known within
the group but are recognised within the
hydrocarbon trade as leading the production
and installation of fire prevention products.
Its credibility was further enhanced recently
when it received the accolade of ‘top
supplier’ from the Canadian energy company
Nexen Inc in recognition of work completed
on the Buzzard Enhancement Programme.
Discovered in 2001 in the Outer Moray
Firth in the Central North Sea, Buzzard is
the UK’s biggest oil field. The rig exports oil
via an 18-inch, 30km subsea pipeline tied in
to the Forties Pipeline System. The US$450
million Buzzard Enhancement Programme
involved adding a fourth platform, complete
with facilities to remove hydrogen sulphide
(H2S). This contaminant is often present in
increasing quantities towards the bottom
of oil wells.
Bestobell’s name has been synonymous
with fire-protection for more than 75 years,
so the company was an obvious choice when
Nexen was seeking to fire-proof the new
platform. Not only does Bestobell supply
and fit a range of standard pipe penetration
seals, it has the expertise to make and fit
bespoke products. “Our key strength is as
a package service provider rather than just
a supplier of our own product,” says Sean
Maunder, Manager of Special Projects for
Meggitt Polymers & Composites. “This
certainly proved to be the case with the
Nexen contract.”
Bestobell was initially contracted to
supply 800 pipe penetration seals for the
new platform. Processing plants on oil
platforms comprise an array of pipework
with pipes attached to different sections
and running through various deck levels
or buildings. At every junction where a pipe
passes from one side of a deck or bulkhead
to another, a seal is needed to prevent
fire from exploiting the gap and passing
through the penetration.
We increased the value of
our initial contract by 37%
to around £1.2 million with
engineering and state-ofthe-art technology
Bestobell Jetfire seals, which made up
95 per cent of the contract, can withstand jet
fires with peak temperatures of 1550°C for
up to 60 minutes. These fires are caused by
gas burning at high pressure and velocity.
The remainder were Fireflex seals, which
can withstand 1150°C hydrocarbon fires
for up to 120 minutes. Bestobell seals
are made from non-combustible, heatresistant materials and coated to protect
against seawater, ozone, methane and
hydrocarbon fuels.
As Bestobell’s engineers worked with
Nexen staff to fulfil the contract, they realised
there was the potential to supply additional
fire prevention products. First, they needed
a seal to go round two large columns used
for H2S extraction, to stop fire from migrating
through the deck from the lower level to
the upper level and vice versa. Second, they
needed fire protection for the stair tower
and bridge walkway linking the new fourth
platform with the existing rig. “We provided
metal rings that went round the H2S
‘stripper’ and ‘absorber’ columns,” explains
Bob Smith, Director of Special Projects at
Bestobell. “To these we attached a series
of skirt segments that extended down to
an upstand at deck level and were bolted
together to create a flexible skirt. We also
made a four-convolution flexible fabric
bellow, approximately four metres by three
metres in size, with each convolution half
a metre deep. That was bolted to the stair
tower and the bridge, creating a flexible
fire-protected link that would shield people
inside from the elements.”
Bestobell delivered the seals along with
a bespoke fire-protection system within
the 18-month time frame and on budget.
As well as impressing Nexen by going
the extra mile to meet its requirements,
Meggitt Polymers & Composites increased
the value of its initial contract by some 37
per cent to around £1.2 million. “It’s through
the engineering capability that Meggitt has,
along with its state-of-the-art technology
and expertise, that we were able to offer
that sort of service to Nexen and win those
additional areas of business,” explains Smith.
Bestobell is now applying the same
‘added-value’ principle that found favour
with Nexen to a new project the company
is working on with Worley Parsons for the
Jasmine Project for ConocoPhillips. Jasmine is a gas condensate field in
the UK Central North Sea. A discovery well
drilled in 2006 confirmed the presence of
hydrocarbons, and production is expected
to begin in 2012. Some 88,000 barrels of
oil-equivalent a day will be extracted.
Bestobell is also looking to expand
its operations to provide fire protection
products and services in other parts of the
world, starting with the USA. In the UK, all
its products are sold with Lloyds Registry
Certification. To supply products for use
in the USA requires approval from the
American Bureau of Shipping. The company
is presently going through the process of
getting Product Design Assessment and
Manufacturing Approvals. “When we have
those approvals, then we will be able to
widen our market capability still further,”
says Smith. •
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After the
blast
Meggitt is now helping
soldiers walk away from
survivable IED events
without being consumed
by fuel fires.
Main picture: Meggitt’s blast- and
puncture-resistant fuel tanks were
subjected to a ferocious test regime
like this test explosion on a Cougar
fighting vehicle.
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In today’s wars, military ground combat vehicles are at constant risk of destruction
from remotely-detonated, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that send metal
fragments into fuel tanks, igniting them and engulfing the vehicle’s occupants in
flames. That is about to change as the US Army takes its first steps to equip its fleet of
Bradley Fighting Vehicles with the innovative puncture and blast-resistant, self-sealing
fuel cells from Meggitt Polymers & Composites’ facility in Rockmart, Georgia.
T
he Bradley, manufactured by BAE
Systems Land & Armaments in the
US, is an armoured personnel carrier
designed to carry up to nine soldiers, while
providing covering fire to suppress enemy
troops and armoured vehicles.
“Without our fuel cell, a blast to a fuel
container will cause it to rupture and the
fuel to atomize, creating a volatile air and
fuel mixture,” explains Mike Webb, DirectorOutside Sales. “Our blast-resistant,
self-sealing fuel cells don’t rupture. At
the same time, they attenuate the energy
associated with ballistic or blast events,
maintaining the fuel within the fuel cell
and preventing the atomization.”
Meggitt’s fuel cell technology has
been saving the lives of military helicopter
pilots and crews for decades, with the
development of self-sealing fuel cells
beginning during the Vietnam war when
helicopters were heavily used in combat.
“There were many instances where
helicopters were shot down and the pilots
survived the crash, dying only in the postcrash fires that arose when the aircraft’s
fuel cells punctured on impact and ignited,”
Webb explains. “Because of this, it was
the military’s objective to provide crashresistant fuel cells and the technology has
been evolving since that time.”
Over 200,000 Meggitt fuel cells
have been incorporated into the main
and auxiliary fuel systems of US military
helicopters and those operated by other
NATO countries.
deaths. “We have reduced that to nearly
zero in survivable helicopter crashes, with
only one death recorded due to a post crash
fire since the early 1970s.”
Incorporating the cells into the Bradley
fuel tank system will be the first time they
will be applied to a ground vehicle on a
production—rather than a prototype—basis.
Webb cites the growing deployment of IEDs
as the primary reason for the military’s
interest in a land combat system application.
“Until the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
mines were the main threat to ground
vehicles and they were countered with heavy
armour plating,” he notes. “But now, you’re
dealing with the explosive force of an IED,
which is much greater than a land mine, and
easily defeats the armour plating. That’s why
& Armaments for the ‘Bradley Urban
Survivability Kit - 3rd Phase’ aviation
auxiliary fuel systems. “Our fuel cells are
a component of an upgrade programme
designed to enhance the vehicle’s
survivability during urban warfare.”
The Meggitt fuel cells are made from
a highly engineered, layered composite
fabric, hand-made and customised to the
requirements of each armoured vehicle
type. Each cell incorporates a rubber
inner liner material that protects the fuel
containment system. Behind the inner liner
are rubber-coated fabrics for strength and
sealant material for self-sealing.
Webb notes the technology
incorporated into the fuel cell is the same
for aviation but adapted for ground combat
Without our fuel cell, a blast to a fuel container will
cause it to rupture and the fuel to atomize, creating
a volatile air and fuel mixture
the Army has become interested in applying
self-sealing fuel cell technology to ground
vehicles. It is these self-sealing properties
that are enabling Meggitt to move forward
with the goal of saving the lives of ground
vehicle crews in combat zones.”
Meggitt is supplying the fuel cells
under a contract to BAE Systems Land
vehicle applications. In addition to providing
resistance to IED-related blasts, the fuel
cells are qualified to withstand other small
arms fire, ranging up to 23 mm projectiles.
“Whether it’s a blast or gunfire event,
the coated fabric provides the strength to
maintain fuel cell integrity under dynamic
loads,” says Webb. >
Now you’re dealing with the
explosive force of an IED,
which is much greater than
a land mine, and easily
defeats the armour plating
“We’ve seen aircraft go down in
combat zones. The external fuel tanks have
detached and broken apart but because of
the fuel cells’ crash-resistant and selfsealing design, there were no fuel tank fires
and the crews were able to escape.”
Webb points out that before the
installation of Meggitt’s self-sealing
bladders, over 42 per cent of US military
helicopter crashes resulted in fire-related
Right: From aircraft to landcraft: Bradley Fighting Vehicle crew need have no fear of fuel
fires when equipped with a derivative of the Meggitt fuel cells that have eliminated
fire-related deaths of pilots and crew after survivable helicopter crashes.
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Whether it is blast
or gunfire event, the
coated fabric provides
the strength of maintain
fuel cell integrity under
dynamic loads
Meggitt has been producing the fuel
cells for the Bradley application under an
accelerated programme for engineering
design and production in 2008.
Since then, deliveries of the first
production units have been made under
a $12 million contract negotiated in 2010.
Webb reports the US Army has already
installed some on Bradleys now serving
within war zones.
Meggitt Polymers
& Composites is
Manufacturer
of the Year
Below: Kimberly Pike working on the exterior of an F18 fuel cell.
Above: Meggitt’s IED-resistant fuel cell
offers “a proven, survivable scenario that
will get soldiers back to fight another day.”
Although the Bradley has been the
only ground vehicle-related production
opportunity for the self-sealing fuel cells
so far, Webb stresses that the potential for
their application is vast.
We have manufactured prototype and
test versions of our fuel bladders for the
High Mobility Multipurpose Wheel, Light
Armoured and Mine-Resistant Ambush
Protected vehicles. With General Dynamics
Land Systems, we are looking at the Marine
Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. We
have also developed a material with the
same technical properties as our fuel
bladders suitable for external fuel tanks
on wheeled vehicles.”
The potential market, he points out,
could extend well beyond the US. What
we are offering is a proven, survivable
scenario that will get soldiers back to
fight another day.” •
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Right:
John (Bubba) Williams
jigging a V-22 rotor blade
de-icing blanket element.
Far right:
Tammy Hardy (left) and
Deborah Sorrells (right)
working on Seahawk interior
ceiling panels in interiors
and upholstery.
T
he US State of Georgia selected
Meggitt Polymers & Composites’
Rockmart operations for its 2011
Georgia Manufacturer Of The Year Award
For Large Industries. Sponsored by
the Georgia Department of Economic
Development and the state’s Quick Start
employee training programme, the award
recognises the accomplishments of
small, medium and large manufacturing
businesses. Nominations come from
representatives of community-based
chambers of commerce, local and regional
development authorities and technical
colleges and business and civic leaders.
The Rockmart facility’s growth has been
driven by a highly skilled workforce, trained
in-house by a separate training department
with roots in Quick Start, which was
established in 1967. Under the Technical
College System of Georgia, Quick Start
develops customised training packages—
at no charge—for companies that wanted
to relocate to, or remain in, Georgia.
Meggitt’s involvement began in 2000, when
it had no more than a basic apprenticeship
scheme. Tony McCann, Vice President, Site
Operations confirms: “There was no formal
structure to our training and people would
become discouraged and leave.” Today,
Training programmes have made an
outstanding contribution to staff retention
Rodger Brown, Executive Director,
Marketing & Strategic Media for Georgia
Quick Start outlined the award criteria.
“We look at the success overall of the
business, the number of jobs created,
the amount of growth it has shown and
the length of time it has been established
within the community—along with local
community involvement. We also note if
the company has shown an extraordinary
degree of performance within its specific
business sector.” On Meggitt Polymers
& Composites, Brown continued: “Here
we have a company employing over 1,000
people—including highly experienced
craftsmen—working in a historic, 82-year
old former tyre cord plant, using hightech equipment and building a specialised
product for a very high-end customer
base,” he said. “At the same time, Meggitt
is very involved in supporting local
community groups.”
Meggitt Rockmart’s training department
utilises approximately 1,400 square feet of
dedicated space, where new-hire workers
are provided with hands-on instruction for
the jobs they will be doing, for up to two
weeks before they are sent to the factory
floor. Trainers include production leads and
staff from quality assurance, supervisory,
management and engineering whose
combined experience amounts to over 130
years. McCann reports that the facility is
constantly auditing its training programmes
to spot any weaknesses emerging in the
production process. “We’ll review our
training procedures, make improvements
and retrain on that basis,” he noted, adding
that the training programmes have, in fact,
made an outstanding contribution to staff
retention.
The largest employer in northwest
Georgia’s Polk County, employment at the
Rockmart plant has nearly doubled in the
last five years. “We’ve been constantly
adding and keeping jobs in Georgia—even
during this economic downturn.” In 2006,
the year before Meggitt acquired
Engineered Fabrics Corporation, the
factory employed 661. As of spring 2011,
the facility employed over 1000. The need
to expand staff has been driven by sales
that have seen annual double-digit growth
in aircraft fuel tanks, helicopter deicing
systems and composite products, which
include helicopter interior panels and
upholstery.
To ensure continued growth, McCann
noted, Meggitt continues to invest in stateof-the-art equipment that will enhance
the facility’s production efficiencies. For
example, for its composite manufacturing
business, the facility installed a sixmoveable-head laser based device for
manufacturing the engine inlet on the CH
53K helicopter, the first programme for
which Meggitt Polymers & Composites
We’ve been constantly
adding and keeping jobs
in Georgia—even during
this economic downturn
will be tasked with designing, building and
qualifying a product, as opposed to building
to customer specifications. “We also began
using a five-access cutter for upholstery
and panel cutting and trimming, which
has allowed us to cut interior honeycomb
panels in-house for the first time. It has
also eliminated a large portion of the hand
trimming of parts that we used to do, which
means we’ve increased the production of
the panels and upholstery, saving labour
that can be better used elsewhere in the
plant.” ●
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BRICS
billionaire bizjets boom
boosts brakes business
The long range and ultra long range business jet market is booming, evolving
from a US-dominated market to one involving apparently recession-proof
international buyers from the BRIC countries and the Middle East notably. It is a
segment that has seen double-digit growth for Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems.
if you are a billionaire and you lose a couple of
says Frank Crampton, the Senior
Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing
for Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems
(MABS), “that won’t stop you buying a
business jet.” He is explaining why, despite
a worldwide recession, this segment of his
division’s market is flying high.
If billionaires’ spending habits don’t
change, the market is. Crampton continues:
“In the old days, the market was dominated
by US buyers at around 60 per cent. Now it
has flipped with 60 per cent of the market
growing beyond our shores.”
It is a market MABS knows well. The
division has always been prominent in the
sector and continues to win business in
it, most recently the integrated braking
systems for Bombardier’s Global 7000
million
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and 8000 business jets. There are more
wins in the segment to be announced.
Crampton is especially proud of this
award. “We offered the best technical
solution and we enjoy Bombardier’s
replaceable units’ across wheels and brakes;
long life, lightweight high performance
NuCarb carbon heatsink; brake control;
brake temperature and tyre pressure
monitoring; and an autobrake feature
It is not surprising that überluxe interiors
have little to do with Crampton’s liking
for the long and ultra long range
business jet
confidence in us to integrate a very
complex system.”
Systems integration will be a
substantial task involving 70 parts or ‘line
complementing the basic anti-skid function.
MABS’ bid was boosted by the tyre
pressure monitoring system developed with
Meggitt Sensing Systems, a product that
Above: Bombardier has chosen Meggitt to integrate the Global 7000’s complex braking system,
which includes Meggitt’s new typre pressure monitoring system.
looks set to become a standard feature in
future requests for proposals in this class.
While it remains an excellent example of
Meggitt extending its world-class expertise
in mechanical health management
beyond aero-engines, its development
was essential for MABS to remain at the
industry’s high table.
The technology has typically been
applied to large wheels and axles so
Meggitt Sensing Systems will help
pioneer its miniaturisation. Crampton
explains: “Our goal is to contain delicate
instrumentation in a very tight package.
At the same time, it must perform reliably
despite extremes of heat and the impact
of slush, stone and rock and be capable of
being maintained easily.”
The programme looks set to net MABS
around one billion dollars over the life of
the programme with aircraft production
between 2016 and 2029 based on
conservative estimates of around 650 aircraft.
It is not surprising that überluxe
interiors have little to do with Crampton’s
liking for the long and ultra long range
business jet. It represents a highly
profitable segment of MABS total markets.
It is also a focal point for innovation. He
explains: “These are excellent platforms
on which to introduce the new technology
that will become standard fare in future.”
Tyre pressure monitoring is one but MABS
is expanding into nose-wheel steering,
landing gear control and hydraulic
monitoring on a new aircraft, currently
under wraps in line with non-disclosure
agreements.
The business jet segment has
delivered double-digit growth to MABS and
the division continues to maintain a balance
of interests in this market. It has fought for
and won content on the highly promising
Hondajet, Phenom 100, Gulfstream G280,
Embraer Legacy 450 and 500 and the
Dassault Falcon 7X amongst others. This
panoply of light, very light and medium to
large jets shows why MABS occupies an
impressive 50 per cent of the worldwide
business jet wheels and brakes and brake
control market. ●
Bottom left: The smooth interior of the
Falcon 7X for which Meggitt provides
ultra-smooth braking.
Bottom right: Embraer’s Phenom 100:
another recession-proof executive jet that
has chosen Meggitt braking systems.
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x
5x
First graduate
recruitment programme
focuses on engineers
U
p to 10 graduates from American,
British and Swiss universities
will join Meggitt PLC in Autumn
2012, launching the group’s first graduate
recruitment programme. Focused
on leading technical universities, the
programme is aimed at providing long-term
careers in the group for engineers.
A flexible three-year programme will
comprise four nine-month postings for each
graduate, beginning and ending at their
respective ‘hiring’ sites. Other components
should include an international posting
and time at Meggitt’s Design Centre in
Bangalore. Trainees can expect to work
across more than one business unit or
discipline and receive mentoring advice
towards a formal placement at the end of
three years, probably with the business
which hires them initially.
be an underlying emphasis on acquiring
a thorough appreciation of Meggitt’s
customers’ requirements. Between
assignments, there will be formal training
in how an aircraft works; the variety of
Meggitt’s technologies; business skills such
as use of continuous improvement tools and
communications skills.
So, what sort of engineering graduates
is Meggitt looking for? Young enumerates:
“We are hunting for skills in mechanical,
electrical and software systems; higher
temperature materials, specialised
aeronautics, polymers and composites
research, power management, piezoelectric products, integrated vehicle health
management and emerging technology
areas such as additive manufacturing and
micro-technologies. We are also looking
for people who can work well with others
The aim is to install the new graduate
recruitment programme as a permanent
feature of management development at Meggitt
According to Robin Young, Meggitt’s
Group Organisation Development Director:
“As our stature as a major international
player in the aerospace, defence and energy
industries has grown, our need for new
talent and our ability to attract good people
has grown too. We work in a fantastic variety
of disciplines and employ many worldleading innovators. The additional breadth
in our engineering teams and the central
development resource we are growing
now give us the tools we need to make this
programme successful. We aim to attract
talented young people to the prospect of
long-term, exciting careers at Meggitt.”
Over their trainee periods, the
graduates will be variously immersed
in product introductions, research and
development activity, project support,
programme management, continuous
improvement, procurement, business unit
collaborations and bid support. There will
44
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and learn over time to manage and lead in
complex programme environments.”
Universities and technical institutes will
be carefully targeted for these disciplines
and reputations in teaching them.
“We will be looking at those institutions
likely to yield the required talent and will
be promoting long-term relationships,“
continues Robin Young. “Senior managers,
technical experts and administrators will
work with each institution to raise Meggitt’s
profile, identify possible recruits, conduct
initial interviews and short-list candidates.
That process will be reinforced in some
cases by Meggitt executives revisiting their
own alma maters.
“We will see how the programme
works initially and expect to improve it as
we go along. However, the aim is to install
the graduate recruitment programme
as a permanent feature of management
development at Meggitt.” •
2x
Valuing all our engineers
Robin Young, Group Organisation
Development Director writes
W
e’ve been blessed with
engineering genius—today’s
success was built by yesterday’s
innovators. Our future depends on the
skill and motivation of today’s engineers
and on their ability to attract tomorrow’s.
People are motivated by opportunities
to grow—and to be recognised. Our new
divisional structures are providing such
opportunities. For example, international
assignments and cross-divisional
programmes are more common than
they were two years ago before our
Transformation programme and the
centralisation and strengthening of
resource. Our engineers want more of
this type of work. They want more formal
learning and development. They want to
pursue higher technical and professional
qualifications.
These and other findings are emerging
from December’s engagement survey.
They reinforce an existing proposal made
to the Management Board at the Oxford
Strategic Leadership Programme last
autumn to enrich engineering careers.
Group Head of Engineering & Technology,
Chris Allen and I now have responsibility
for designing and connecting a range
of actions to do just this. The graduate
programme is an important new activity
for us but is only a small part of the
story—expect to hear more later.
Stop press: read young engineers
on forging careers at Meggitt
www.meggitt-graduate.com
Change leadership programme
rolls out across Meggitt
A
n intensive change leadership
programme has already benefited
hundreds of Meggitt senior and
middle managers—and will be rolled
out for many more in 2012. Piloted in the
USA and UK in 2010, 13 programmes
were completed in the following year—
three more than planned to cater for
the integration of the Pacific Scientific
Aerospace companies—and seven are
scheduled for the coming months.
Around 300 managers have already
attended programmes in San Juan
Capistrano, Irvine and Simi Valley in
California, Atlanta, Coventry and Fribourg.
There were well over 60 each from Meggitt
Equipment Group and Meggitt Polymers
& Composites; more than 50 each from
Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems, Meggitt
facilitators—Jamie Welther, Karen Ouellet
and Vincent Knight in the US and Sushma
Hayes for all other regions.
In a packed four days (two modules
of two days each), attendees carry out
behavioural profiling and various exercises
and activities. These encompass actioncentred and situational leadership,
extended DISC (Dominance, Influence,
Steadiness, Compliance) activity,
communication skills, networking, team
working and working to matrices of
different reporting lines.
Managers experience the dynamics
of collaboration and competition and
discuss the implications for Meggitt’s
transformation; learn the importance
of fresh perspectives on their roles;
explore the role of change leadership and
It is vital to embed change management
values into the way Meggitt does business
styles and the desirability of changing
their approach. Others appreciated the
importance of listening to individuals and
encouraging contributions which might
lead to innovations and breakthrough. Still
Demonstrates
management
development is
important at all levels
others acknowledged the importance of
acting flexibly according to the demands of
situations as they arise. It was vital to look
beyond generic solutions.
Comments on the change leadership
programme are leading to the development
of another programme for first line
managers, including supervisors and
team leaders. This will put more emphasis
on specific skills but will also focus on
Situational Leadership and DISC so that
managers at all levels in the group use
similar tools and terminology.
Hayes maintains it is vital that senior
managers encourage and reinforce
change management by sending selected
subordinates on the programme and
discussing the experience with them
to ensure what they have learned is
implemented in the workplace.
“We want managers to show real
interest in their learning, to listen and
encourage their ideas, to answer their
questions and concerns and to help them
put what they’ve learned into practice.
This programme demonstrates that
management development is important at
all levels. We have ensured the programme
is “Meggitt-specific’, aligned to our
competencies. This is training to make
a genuine difference. It is vital to embed
change management values into the way
Meggitt does business.” •
Control Systems and Meggitt Sensing
Systems; and a small number from
corporate areas. The participants included
presidents, general managers, vicepresidents, directors and senior and middle
managers. About 80 were from operations,
over 60 from engineering and around 50
from Strategy, Sales & Marketing. Project
management, quality, procurement,
finance, HR, IT and compliance were also
represented.
Another 200 managers are being
nominated by business unit vice-presidents
for 2012’s programmes which, it is hoped,
will include one in French. Global Learning
& Development Manager, Sushma Hayes
is working with Group Organisation
Development Director, Robin Young and
now with Senior Vice President Human
Resources & Organizational Development,
Eric Ovlen and management consultants
Quest to “keep the programme fresh.”
Quest is supported by in-house programme
learn the tools and techniques of change
management; apply the skills learned
to their own leadership challenge; and
practice coaching and supporting each
other. Situational Leadership and DISC have
been particularly well received.
Hayes says there is an emphasis on
achieving objectives, building teams and
supporting individuals. “Managers learn
how to understand and, where appropriate,
adapt their behaviour and that of others.
They should show leadership and flexibility
in dealing with the key elements in
unfolding situations. A major aspect is to
identify, obtain, develop and implement the
skill sets appropriate for the job in hand.
All this puts a premium on collaboration,
building on the group-wide transformation
process while appreciating the ‘One
Meggitt’ global context.”
Feedback from programmes
has been encouraging. Some gained
perspectives on their own management
300
200
7
the number of managers
who have attended from
across the group
managers to be
nominated for the next
programme
programmes scheduled
for the coming months
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ANALYSIS
GAP
As the renewable energy sector
expands amid concerns of fossilfuel induced climate change,
Meggitt Sensing Systems is
experiencing increasing demand
for air-gap sensors to monitor the
health of hydropower generators.
The total hydropower capacity in
Latin America currently stands at
140,000 MW but experts say there
is a feasible hydro potential of
4.5 times that across the region.
I
n a region of Argentina best known for
making money out of wine, water, too,
is proving its worth. In Mendoza, global
renewable energy company IMPSA, which
also owns Lagarde winery, is constructing
ten Kaplan turbines for the Tocoma
hydropower project in Venzuela. Not only
are they the biggest of their kind in the
world but they are also the most efficient.
When operational, they will generate
2,160MW, enough to power some three
million homes.
The Tocoma, or Manuel Piar, scheme
will complete the Bajo Caroní Hydropower
Complex in Bolivar State, which already
has three functioning hydropower plants.
Located on the lower reaches of the Caroni
river, these plants already generate some
14,000MW of power. Once the US$6.6 billion
fourth plant is complete, the complex will
produce sufficient power to meet 100 per
cent of the nation’s electricity needs.
While being able to produce all one’s
energy from renewable sources using just
four massive plants undoubtedly has its
benefits (Venezuela is free to sell its oil
reserves, for example), any major breakdown
at a plant has the potential to wipe out a
quarter of the nation’s electricity supply.
Equipment that can monitor the state of a
plant’s mechanical equipment and forewarn
of potential problems is therefore vital.
Air gap monitoring can
identify if the bearing has
a problem, the rotor starts
getting too close to the
stator or the stator warps
under the centrifugal
forces placed on it
“The bigger the project, the
more important it is to install conditionmonitoring equipment,” explains Technical
Support Engineer, Philippe Athanasiadis,
who works at Meggitt Sensing Systems in
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Left: The reliability and performance of the
Tocoma hydropower project in Venezuela will
be boosted by Meggitt Sensing Systems’ rotor
and stator condition-monitoring equipment.
Below right: The smaller the gap between
the spinning rotor and stator of the turbine,
the higher the efficiency of the machine and
its energy output. However, small air gaps
leave less room for mechanical malfunction.
Meggitt monitors this gap.
Switzerland. Power generation is money
generation. A single machine can generate
a million US dollars a day. Unlike with gas
turbines where you might have a parallel
machine as a back-up, it’s too expensive to
do the same with hydropower.”
Seeking to avoid such an eventuality,
IMPSA has contracted Meggitt to supply a
range of condition-monitoring equipment
for the Tocoma project. The contract,
which includes supplying, installing and
maintaining sensors and monitoring
software is worth US$1.5million. “We are
supplying a complete engineering solution,
including front-end sensors, our state-ofthe-art vibration and air-gap monitoring
system VM600 and supporting software,”
explains Sales Manager for Latin America
Victor Bello, also based in the Swiss office.
steel hubs. These hand-finished blades are
rotated by the regulation mechanism, which
is directed by four servomotors. Meggitt is
supplying 160 air-gap monitors, 16 for each
generator, to enable engineers to assess
how each generator is behaving at all times.
“The sensors measure the gap
between the rotating and stationary parts
of the generator and set off an alarm if the
space gets too narrow. Operators can shut
down the machine before any catastrophic
failure occurs,” explains Athanasiadis.
“As well as this safety function, the signals
can be used to monitor the health of key
components such as windings, bearings
and support structures which are subject
to huge mechanical and magnetic forces.”
Meggitt is also supplying the software
needed for hydropower managers to
Any major breakdown has the potential to wipe out
a quarter of the nation’s electricity supply. Equipment
that can monitor the state of a plant’s mechanical
equipment is therefore vital
As the renewable energy sector
expands, amid concerns of fossil-fuel
induced climate change, Meggitt Sensing
Systems is experiencing increasing demand
for air-gap sensors, which monitor the
health of hydropower generators. In
hydropower plants, water stored behind a
reservoir passes through a control gate to
turn a turbine, which powers a generator.
The term ‘air gap’ defines the space
between the spinning rotor and stationary
stator inside the generator. The smaller
the air gap, the higher the efficiency of the
machine and the greater its energy output.
However, a small air gap also means there
is less room for mechanical error.
The Kaplan turbines being
manufactured for the Tocoma scheme have
steel draft tubes embedded in concrete,
and concrete semi-spiral cases. The
runners are equipped with adjustable
blades mounted on bronze bushings in cast
Power generation is
money generation. A single
machine can generate a
million US dollars a day
generator,” he explains. “This destroyed
the rotor. After that they decided to install
air-gap monitoring and bought the
VM600 system.”
The total hydropower capacity in Latin
America currently stands at 140,000MW
but experts say there is a feasible hydro
potential of 4.5 times that across the
region. There are therefore likely to be
opportunites to install air-gap sensors in
new plants as well as retro-fitting sensors
to older machinery. For the time being,
however, Meggitt’s engineers have their
work cut out fulfilling the Tocoma contract,
its largest request for air-gap sensors yet.
Only when the vast Kaplan turbines begin
to turn, will there be time to toast delivered
and future contracts, no doubt with a glass
of IMPSA’s Lagarde vino. •
interpret the stream of data collected by the
sensors. Its Machinery Protection Software
(MPS) and Condition Monitoring Software
(CMS) provides an easy-to-use graphical
user interface, aimed at displaying what is
going on inside critical rotating machines.
As well as showing information on the airgap, it displays data on absolute vibration,
relative and absolute shaft vibration,
shaft position and displacement, plus
temperature and speed. This information
can be accessed by staff located remotely
using the web if need be.
The dangers of not installing conditionmonitoring equipment in hydropower plants
can be grave. Athanasiadis recalls a case
at a plant he visited in 2004. The company
had been operating hydro turbines since
the 1930s and had no protection systems
and no air-gap monitoring. “One day, one
of the generators broke down and some
parts of the rotor started flying inside the
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Mimicking swarming speedboat threats to naval ships, Meggitt Defence Systems
in Ashford UK has reignited a latent capability, launching an innovative Fast
Inshore Attack Craft target in the form of a highly customised catamaran surf
rescue boat. Sales to NATO navies and the UK MoD have swiftly followed.
Rob Davies, Meggitt Defence Systems UK’s
managing director, founded the business.
An unmanned aerial vehicles expert, he is
also a skilled veteran aircraft display pilot.
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T
here is almost nothing that Rob
Davies, Meggitt Defence Systems
UK’s managing director and team
cannot control remotely. ‘Sprite’ is a
full-sized marine surface target designed
to counter the threat of boat-based suicide
bombers and attacks from swarming
small boats. While the requirement came
to the fore after the US Navy’s Destroyer,
USS Cole was severely damaged by
a suicide bomb attack from a manned
speedboat in 2000, Meggitt Defence
Systems has been converting boats into
remotely controlled targets for some 15
years for naval gunnery practice.
Meggitt Defence Systems’ Sprite
was publicly launched in September 2011
at DSEi, London’s biannual international
defence show. However, sea trials with
NATO navies had taken place much earlier
in response to an ‘urgent operational
requirement’. After operational acceptance,
which included safety systems and
autonomous operating verification using
Meggitt’s “Merlin” control stations, orders
quickly followed. Over 60 Sprite boat
targets and 20 Merlin control stations were
delivered in 2011 to customers including
the UK MoD. The Sprite product line,
with Meggitt Defence Systems Canada’s
Hammerhead unmanned surface vehicle
target, gives Meggitt a transatlantic
capability in an important emerging market.
controlled targets,” says Davies.
The original requirement was for
an expendable ‘one shot’ device that was
able to run for up to an hour. Development
of Sprite during the early phase led to the
engine, electronics and fuel tank being
protected by sophisticated composite
armour plate, preserving the profile of the
threat which must be head on to its target
and enabling it to be presented more than
Our boat target will ultimately be destroyed but with the
plate, the expensive core of the boat is preserved, picked
up and recycled and marine pollution minimised
“Since the USS Cole incident, navies have
been developing tactics to counter the
threat of Fast Inshore Attack Craft but it
has only been possible to conduct proper
simulations of swarming small boat threats
since Meggitt developed its FIAC remote-
once. Chris Hilder, Customer Support
Manager, explains. “Our boat will ultimately
be destroyed but, with the plate, the
expensive core of the boat stands a chance
of being preserved, picked up and recycled
—and marine pollution minimised.” >
Above: Meggitt’s “Merlin” ground control
station and typical display. Merlin has
seen 20 years’ service worldwide in over
30 countries, many involving permanent
installations. Its architecture and systems
are common to all Meggitt’s unmanned
target systems in the air, on land and on
sea. This obviates the need to invest in
separate control systems for each target
type, despite differing performance and
operating characteristics.
Left: Sprite, Meggitt Defence Systems
Fast Inshore Attack Craft target, is
deployed from a Royal Navy ship.
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COPY CAT
Left: Ena Edwards solders on
in electronics production
Below: Roger Cotterel welds
and fabricates
Below left: Jet Banshee tail fins
Opposite
Top: Laurence Smith and Gavin Hollyer
work on airframe assembly
Middle and middle right: Electronics R&D;
and autopilot inertial measurement unit:
Meggitt Defence Systems UK’s 30 years
in aircraft avionics control systems and
control stations enables it to provide
the most cost-effective products in the
market without compromising quality
and functionality.
Every man and his dog
thinks he can build a model airplane but what they
can’t do is the electronics Meggitt Defence Systems UK is famous
for its classic Banshee aerial target, the
industry standard in affordable aerial
targets for surface-to-air and air-to-air
weapon systems. Its expertise in composite
structures is critical to the capability as
is its prowess in aircraft avionics, control
systems and control stations. “Every man
and his dog thinks he can build a model
airplane but what they can’t do is the
electronics, which we are expert at,”
says Davies.
He is a zealot for cost-effectiveness.
“We have developed our in-house capability
for over 30 years—design, software writing,
manufacturing and launch into service. We
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own all the intellectual property and have
full system control. That is why we are the
most cost-effective in the market.”
At the same time, there is no
compromise on quality and functionality.
“The science, which is considerable, is
ours, so our understanding of the system
and ability to adapt it quickly to the training
challenge required by the customer is
second to none.” Hilder provides a colourful
example: “Our ground control station
customer who flies multiple Banshees for
his country’s president every year. Over 10
minutes they are engaged by helicopters, by
ships, by jet fighters and by land forces. It is
quite a display and this year they are going
to push the boundaries even further.”
It is a good example of Meggitt Defence
Systems’ ability to offer multiple targets
flying at challenging speeds over useful
distances, with significant payloads and
offer totally autonomous flight and launch
We have one customer who flies multiple Banshees at
once for his country’s president every year. Over
10 minutes, they are engaged by helicopters, by ships,
by jet fighters and by land forces. It is quite a display
will operate all our remote-controlled
target types—up to seven or eight—and
that’s clever.” He continues: “We have one
and recovery services. Davies believes the
competition can only do some of what the
Ashford team does some of the time. >
Where Meggitt Defence Systems started
Meggitt Defence Systems UK’s Managing Director, Rob
Davies was an ex-RAF apprentice and engineer working
on unmanned aerial vehicle systems in the 1970s to 1980s.
His professional expertise in aerodynamics, power plants
and aircraft fed his model aircraft business, which involved
designing and selling model aircraft kits.
The business took a dramatic new turn when the HMS
Sheffield was sunk in the Falklands by the sophisticated
sea-skimming anti-ship missile, Exocet, with the loss
of 20 seamen. As a result, the Royal Navy started to
equip its ships with close-in support weapons known as
CWISs, designed to provide a secondary level of defence
should primary anti-ship missile defences fail. It issued
a requirement for a target that could simulate missiles
and jet aircraft to support weapons development and train
personnel to identify targets and mount a defence. Rob
Davies and the team that works with him today created the
Banshee aerial target to fulfil that requirement. After many
modifications and versions, over 6,000 Banshees have been
produced, making it the most prolific aircraft produced on
British soil since World War Two. It is deployed globally to
mimic missiles and aircraft.
Davies’ original founding team shares his passion
for model and real aircraft—Davies is a skilled display pilot
of 1930s and 1940s fighter aircraft known as ‘warbirds’.
They remain valued colleagues at the facility in Ashford,
Kent, whose specialist workforce today numbers 93 in a
state-of-the-art, 50,000 square foot facility.
Above: A 9 x 2 metre ‘Hercules’ pneumatic catapult under construction. The 6,000 kg Hercules will launch an aerial target weighing up to 250
kg at speeds of up to 55 metres per second with a launch pressure of between 2.5 to 10 bar.
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COPY CAT
Training workhorses
Lone rangers
Meggitt Defence Systems prides itself on what it calls the
workhorses of remotely-controlled target systems for live
fire and self-defence training with surface and air-launched
weapon systems.
‘Naval’ surface targets simulate Fast Inshore Attack
Craft (FIAC) threat in single or multi-vessel, swarm attack
scenarios.
Towed and remotely controlled, free-flying aerial
targets travel at over 300 knots.
Agile land vehicles provide realistic targets for artillery
and air-to-surface weapons. A single ground control
station covers all targets, despite differing performance
and operational characteristics and can operate all
types simultaneously. This is a cost-effective solution for
customers who already use Meggitt Defence Systems’
target types.
Meggitt Defence Systems’ remotely-controlled agile land
vehicle system known as Ranger allows any vehicle to be
converted to full remote control operation, either in visual
mode, using a hand held controller; beyond visual range,
using a camera to provide a real-time, driver’s-eye view;
or completely beyond visual range using Meggitt’s CASPA
avionics and “Wizard” or “Merlin” ground stations. Where
additional track accuracy is required, an optional routefollowing system can be integrated. Any combination of
these systems can be utilised to create the required threat.
To date, Range Rovers, Toyota pick-ups and quad bikes
have been successfully converted but almost any vehicle
can be adapted.
Below: Banshee aerial and Sprite marine targets
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Below: Remotely controlled quad bike
Banshee just got faster
Spritely
DSEi, the world’s premier defence show, saw Meggitt
Defence Systems launch a Banshee variant in 2011. Over
25 years, the classic Banshee aerial target has become the
industry standard in affordable aerial targetry for surfaceto-air and air-to-air weapon systems. Now it is jet-powered,
providing an even more realistic aerial threat simulation. While it can travel at a maximum level speed of over 260
knots, Banshee retains all its original features—patented Hot
Nose, Black Body IR enhancement, passive and active radar
augmentation, IR and radar countermeasure dispensers,
Acoustic and Doppler radar Miss Distance Indicator scoring
systems and its low-level, sea-skimming capability.
Imitating a Fast Inshore Attack speed boat, Sprite is a
lightweight, compact, inflatable catamaran target powered
by an outboard motor. Based on a surf rescue boat with a
proven performance pedigree, it operates beyond visual
range to provide realistic FIAC attack profiles and defence
training. It weighs just 75 kg and can be presented to the
customer for packing down to 2 x 1 x 1 metres for storage
on and deployment from modern warships where space is
at a premium. The target can be used more than once with
armour plating, protecting valuable electronics, engine and
fuel and reducing marine pollution.
Your boat or mine?
While Meggitt Defence Systems supplies a range of maritime
targets, its core capability lies in target control and operation.
The team will create the optimal threat simulation whether
instrumenting Sprite or a customer’s surplus or obsolete vessel.
Below: Banshee jet engine
Below: Sprite targets with composite armour panels
Left to right: Andrew Maynard, Laurence
Smith and Mark Edwards on the Banshee
airframe production line. This aerial target
is the most prolific produced on British soil
since World War Two.
Cheap unmanned air vehicles are as lethal
as they are difficult to detect. That’s when your
target needs to go slower and lower
Those that can do all of it must outsource
elements and do so at huge cost. “Putting
it all together efficiently and costeffectively,” he says, “takes great skill
and long experience.”
Teresa Horton, Head of Sales and
Marketing, confirms: “We only offer what
we can make, often inviting a customer
to see systems in production before the
formal ‘request for quotation’ is released.
That’s how we have won the bulk of our
business over the years.”
While great interest in the Sprite
boat target was sustained at DSEi, Meggitt
Defence Systems launched another
crowd-pleaser, enabled by the development
of small, affordable jet engines originally
intended for the model aeroplane market.
As a result of these recent developments
in small jet engine performance, Banshee
can now go faster, providing the speed,
height and flying time the market wants.
Hilder explains: “Traditional jet
targets are horrendously expensive to
operate. They are fast, of course, but they
have to fly at 30,000 feet for maximum
fuel efficiency and speed and have a flight
endurance of minutes, not hours. Our jetpowered Banshee flies at a respectable
260 knots and at the 500 to 1000 feet
altitudes required for weapons systems
training and trials. We trade off cost,
speed and height, delivering enough of the
threat needed to make a training exercise
worthwhile—and affordable.”
It did not take long for word to get
out after successful trials in Denmark
in 2010. Orders from Scandinavian,
European and Asian customers swiftly
followed. Hilder offers another perspective
on market demand: “Another threat is
emerging—cheap unmanned air vehicles
that are as lethal as they are difficult
to detect. That’s when your target needs
to go slower and lower.”
•
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MASTER
MANUFACTURER
David Rivard, Pacific Scientific HTL’s former business system
manager and now its Integration Lead, is enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity—helping to create a brand-new aerospace company.
Above: PacSci Integration Lead, Dave Rivard with Lead Quality Technician Tomas Gomez reviewing a shipment of fire extinguisher bottles.
54
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I
n the perfect marriage between private and professional
interest embodied in his mastery of manufacturing,
David Rivard is one of those lucky individuals who
considers his occupation a ‘hobby’.
His training began long before he took his manufacturing
engineering degree from Cal Poly Pomona—California
Polytechnic University. He is the product of a unique programme
in what is known in the United States as a ‘trade school’, enabling
students with a clear and early technical orientation to pursue
a wholly specialised ‘secondary’—or High School—education.
To this day, when Rivard is not working, he’s studying the latest
techniques and methods that optimise manufacturing.
Over the course of his career, Rivard has learned that
the critical success factor in optimising waste reduction
is how the interaction of all Lean processes is managed. He
explains: “It is not about applying Lean to one process
here and another there. It is about carefully integrating them.
Lean must go beyond, for example, cycle time reduction.”
We’re effectively designing a
new aerospace company
Cycle time reduction contributes around five per cent only to
the reduction of lead time, which Rivard says customers want
most next to quality and on-time delivery.
A major function of a business system manager, Rivard’s
speciality, is to help everyone in a workforce see and contribute
to this bigger picture. “Whether you are dealing with quality,
productivity or the removal of waste in general, you must link
the processes and then eliminate the waste between them.”
There is one particular critical success factor. “The whole
leadership team must demonstrably espouse the Lean approach.
To be successful, it must go beyond the manufacturing floor.
And that is where kaizen shows its worth.” Rivard explains:
“A kaizen is an idea-generating activity focused on improving
a specific area of a business. It can take place over a few hours
or a few days but it is almost invariably a multi-disciplinary task.
The result is intense, rapidly-paced change that takes the
business to a new level of performance.”
Rivard’s route
David Rivard’s last role was ‘Business System
Manager’—an integrator of Pacific Scientific Aerospace
parent Danaher’s Lean manufacturing processes. His
primary responsibility was to HTL, the fire suppression
specialist he is now, as Integration Lead, merging with
established Meggitt business Meggitt Safety Systems,
which specialises in fire detection with a systems
integration capability. He also supported HTL’s satellites
and over 40 group facilities throughout his 13-year career
with Danaher Corporation. Rivard has rotated through
a range of operations roles encompassing, variously,
quality and Lean processes embracing the ‘focused
factory’ to ‘variation reduction’. Along the way, he became
a Six Sigma Black Belt, taking the trouble to acquire a
generalised MBA to enhance his management skills.
On graduating from university, Rivard had several
appointments in industrial and energy businesses before
enjoying 15 years in defence electronics for Eastman Kodak.
It’s all about the move
As integration lead, the scope of Rivard’s remit is simple:
to create one new company from the Meggitt and PacSci fire
protection and control businesses. There are four key tasks.
1. Organise
Dennis Hutton, President of the combined operations, was quick
to establish the organisational structure needed to bring both
companies under a single leadership team—and a single banner:
Meggitt Safety Systems.
2. Deduplicate
While often collaborating, today’s merging businesses were
formerly competitors with systems aspirations. Now they are
joining forces, wasteful duplicate development activity in detection
and suppression has been eliminated.
3. Move
Now Rivard is working with the new team to define the ideal space
that will set tone and pace in the combined operations. The new
facility is intended to be relocated between their existing Southern
Californian locations.
The process of ‘test fitting’—seeing where physical plant
and machinery will sit in the new factory—will ensure the facility
will optimised from day one for high performance. Kaizens in
both facilities are also under way to ensure all material is placed
at point of use to achieve the Holy Grail of Lean—flow. Meggitt
Safety Systems staff at the Simi Valley facility, for example, will
no longer have to endure the separation between manufacturing
and warehousing. As well as developing new processes, Meggitt
We are advancing our products
across the board
Safety Systems leadership wants to ensure that the best of existing
practice from both businesses is extracted and replanted in the
combined organisation. “Detection and suppression products will
always be separate production lines,” explains Rivard, “so synergy
will come from how we manage the factory. That means selecting
the best management techniques from HTL and Meggitt
Safety Systems.”
Rivard is working to a measured timetable that will see
a move begin in the middle of 2013, recognising existing lease
commitments, lease negotiation for the new facility, implementing
the office and manufacturing build-out and working with customers
to ensure all contractual obligations are fulfilled.
4. Fill the engineering resource gap
At the same time, the fourth project takes advantage of the capacity
of Meggitt’s engineering design centre in Bangalore. HTL, like its
competitors, must address the shortfall in engineers that besets
aerospace in the western world. Rivard explains: “There are many
development programmes we must engage in if we are going to
win positions on new aircraft and land vehicles. Cost-effective
outsourcing is the only way to add the capacity we need to exploit
these once-in-a-decade opportunities when faced with limited
resources.” Rivard also confirms that Meggitt Safety Systems is
committed to maintaining and extending its home team. “By using
the design centre, we can focus on maintaining and developing
critical skills for locally available talent.”
He continues lest the point be lost: “Where we can outsource
routine work we will and where we can improve job content to
ensure our in-house engineers remain stimulated and challenged
we will also do so.” >
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MASTER MANUFACTURER
Opportunity knocks
Ambitious engineers and aerospace professionals at all
stages of their careers should be interested in the new
HTL/MSSI combine. Rivard sums up.
•Our 500-strong workforce provides systems direct to
aerospace royalty through our ATA 26 systems strategy.
•We are going green—at the leading edge of
technology development in environmentally-benign
fire suppressants.
•We don’t just bash metal: product development
embraces advanced materials science and software
and electronics design for systems integration.
•We are an entrepreneurial business based on a flat
structure designed for swift decision-making and early
responsibility for ambitious professionals.
•Individuals and good ideas don’t get lost in corporate
noise or a labyrinth of control.
•Professional development at MSSI/HTL includes
exposure to highly experienced practitioners of aerospace
technology development and engineering.
•Now is the time to join this industry. Aerospace is awash
with new and exciting programmes, which our combined
businesses are pursuing aggressively.
Below: Working with the architect commissioned
to create the new facility, the leadership team
brainstormed the kind of company they want
to create—and project. Displayed at current
facilities, those characteristics are embodied
in vibrant graphics reflecting the output of
that process.
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there is certainly plenty to keep minds sharp. Rivard
draws attention to the raft of exciting work in process. “We are
advancing our products across the board. Newer efficient
aero-engines operate at a higher temperature than ever before
so we need to provide the detectors that can perform in even
more extreme environments. Environmental concerns mean that
suppression agents must be “greener”. New fire threats emerge
over time and we want to ensure our technology evolves with
those requirements.”
We are growing at a time when
the business world seems to
be falling apart
R
ivard has worked on integrations before. HTL itself
is in the product of a consolidation of two facilities.
However, nothing he has experienced in his career matches
this one for excitement. “The opportunity here is tremendous,”
he enthuses. “We are bucking what we read about every day
in the newspapers—growing at a time when the business world
seems to be falling apart. Our products are in demand and there
is going to be every opportunity for professional advancement
in the new business.” Rivard’s view is underpinned by several
factors. HTL and Meggitt Safety Systems previously used each
other as customer and supplier. Now they are one, offering
the combined fire protection and control package the industry
is demanding. Without this capability, neither of them could bid
on key programmes. What’s more, they are providing the industry
with a much desired source of competition.
There won’t be bean bags and
pool tables but there will be
conference areas clustered
around informal coffee
lounge space
The work involved in combining the businesses is significant
but Rivard and team are powering ahead, pursuing an opportunity
that may come only once in a career. “We’re effectively designing
a new aerospace company,” he says. “Visioning” for the new
Synergy will come from how
we manage the new factory.
That means selecting the best
management techniques from
HTL and Meggitt Safety Systems
factory has provided a focal point for this aspiration. Working
with the architect, the leadership team brainstormed the kind
of company they wanted to create—and project. “We want to show
our customers that we are a successful engineering company,
high on energy and creativity. We want to project a Eurocentric
image, since many of our customers are off-shore and we want
to demonstrate that we are a results-oriented, collaborative
team, committed to safety and protection with an eco-friendly
orientation,” Rivard summarises. Those characteristics are
presented at each factory on vibrant graphics reflecting the
dynamic flip-chart scribbles that emerged from that process.
Part of this vision about what Meggitt Safety Systems will look
and feel like will be embodied by the architect in a move away from
compartmentalised space to spaces that promote collaboration.
If it sounds a little bit high-tech Silicon Valley, Rivard says there
won’t be bean bags and pool tables but there will be conference
areas clustered around informal coffee lounge space to encourage
engineers to gather round, slip out of gear and generate those
critical Eureka moments. ●
A new chapter
Maintaining Meggitt’s position as a leading supplier of fire detection and
protection systems to the global aircraft market.
H
TL worked with Meggitt Safety Systems in 2010
to win a full ATA 26 fire protection system on
Bombardier Learjet 85 aircraft.
The system, which includes advanced fire and
smoke detection equipment and Pacific Scientific fire
extinguishing components, protects the aircraft’s engines,
auxiliary power unit and cargo compartments.
A new-generation controller was designed to provide
increased functionality over traditional units, monitoring
the entire fire protection system and reporting key data
to the flight deck for action by crew or automatic systems
shut-down. Algorithms differentiate between true and
false alarms maximising aircraft dispatchability without
compromising safety.
The fully-integrated package provides single supplier
advantages for the Learjet 85 programme reducing cost
and risk, and through the modular approach to systems,
electronics and software design, will reduce programme
development risk for a range of aircraft manufacturers.
Meggitt Safety Systems has a splendid record
of fire detection components and sub-systems on 90%
of western commercial aircraft in service. Today, the
combined HTL/Meggitt Safety Systems organisation can
offer an enhanced level of system engineering activity
wrapped up in a single package, maintaining Meggitt’s
position as a leading supplier of fire detection and
protection systems to the global aircraft market.
57
00
We’re closing the gap
between the two.
Cutting-edge graphics are becoming more than ever important for growing numbers of gaming
product-savvy soldiers, which is why Meggitt Training Systems has just launched a new systems
architecture. Not only will it bring simulated scenarios for weapons training up close and
personal, it will enable Meggitt’s virtual firearms training team to quickly adopt solutions to
what trainers want.
N
ovember 2011 saw Meggitt Training
Systems launch FATS® M100 at
I/ITSEC, a key trade show in the
training and simulation industry’s calendar.
FATS® M100 is Meggitt’s classic FATSbranded small-arms trainer enhanced
with new system architecture. Designed
to deliver new levels of realism in virtual
firearms training, it will also enable
training developers to use and integrate the
latest graphics platforms to optimum effect.
The system supports multiple,
simultaneous simulation and training
modes and allows internally developed and
third-party simulation training and gaming
products to be integrated easily. This
includes Meggitt’s own ‘Advanced Reality’
Meggitt Training Systems’ President
Ron Vadas says low-cost consumer
technology is something military trainers
want to exploit to improve the military
simulation ‘game’. Meggitt Training
Systems already uses commercial software
to enhance its products and has even
developed an iPad application that allows
instructors to control training sessions
involving live-fire and simulation.
“We watch the gaming industry very
closely as we can never match the level of
investment it can make in mass market
products. Computer-generated imagery
has come to dominate everyone’s daily
lives at ever higher resolutions and speed
of delivery. It is not surprising that soldiers
It is not surprising that soldiers expect the same level of
quality and realism from combat training as they do from
a product they can buy in their nearest shopping mall
training, which combines advanced gaming
solutions used for blockbuster games and
movies with SIS, Meggitt’s StressInduction
System (see panel).
58
00
expect the same level of visual realism
from combat training as they do from
a product they can buy in their nearest
shopping mall,” says Vadas. Trainers are
also looking for flexibility so they can
connect different training systems to
achieve specific training goals.
FATS M100 is Meggitt Training
Systems’ answer to both these challenges.
Vadas explains: “FATS M100 allows us
to deliver cutting-edge graphics. Just
as important, we can seamlessly mix
third-party software components with our
systems. This means trainers can create
experiences that are completely fit-forpurpose using highly customised pick-andmix packages.”
FATS SAT to remain
‘system of systems’
While FATS M100 provides flexibility for
trainers wanting to integrate a range of
products, it is also providing an upgrade
path for the FATS small-arms trainer
(“SAT“ in the US and “Dismounted Close
Combat Trainer” in the UK). Vadas explains:
“This new architecture means that the
trainer can be developed in line with
advances in gaming technology at industry
level, not just that of Meggitt. That is very
important in our market and will ensure our
equipment remains the system of systems.”
Now we can deliver
cutting-edge graphics and
enable trainers to create
highly customised training
experiences through
pick-and-mix packages
it is a system that few owners—such
as the us marine corps, the uk ministry
of defence and the australian defence
corps—would turn away from lightly.
From handguns to grenade launchers and
anti-tank weapons, the FATS SAT comes
with an outstanding choice of simulated
weaponry not matched in the industry.
Where they apply, FATS simulated firearms
feature the most realistic recoil effects in
the world, while all weapons possess true
ballistic effects simulating the trajectory
of rounds according to distance and
environmental conditions.
Making a fist of it
Meggitt Training Systems, based in
Suwannee, Georgia, has had a highly
successful year. FATS M100 has already
been deployed in a £13 million small arms
simulator upgrade for the UK MoD in
which devices needed to support Future
Integrated Soldier Technology (FIST)
enhancements will be added. TACOM, the
US Army Contracting Command in Warren,
Michigan—one of the Army’s largest
weapon systems research and development
organisations—selected Meggitt Training
Systems for a multi-million dollar US
Army live-fire target systems contract.
Meggitt will manufacture and install the
We’re providing an upgrade
path that will sustain our
systems of systems
stationary, moving infantry and armour
target mechanisms and control systems
and provide product support. Meggitt
Training Systems won an AUD$29 million
contract with the Australian Defence Force
to operate and maintain facilities at primary
small and supporting arms simulation
training centres. Other 2011 contract
successes have included a £10 million
contract to meet an enhanced targetry
requirement for the British Army Training
Unit, Suffield (BATUS) in Alberta, Canada.
This involves the modernisation of targetry
with over 1,000 light and heavy deployable
smart targets incorporating near-miss and
zonal scoring systems. ●
Top: The FATS® M100 system architecture utilises modern gaming technology to create
immersive training scenarios encountered in theatre.
Above: FATS® M100 supports training scenarios under a variety of conditions,
including low-light and night time.
Stressing out
Meggitt Training Systems has worked with academia to understand how to induce real
human stress into its simulations. It is, apparently, relatively simple to induce a “startle”
response in a trainee but this is not really defined as stress. Meggitt’s experiments
have concentrated on generating and controlling stress levels throughout a simulation
scenario and measuring the associated bio-markers. The findings are being fed into
resilience training for military combatants. Police and other security agencies are
showing great interest in simulated shooting incidents to counter the problem of
trainees forgetting how many rounds they have fired at a hostile person and continuing
to fire, thereby increasing the danger of hitting innocent bystanders or members of their
own teams.
59
00
In two minds
What tempted Delhi-born, US citizen Ravi Rajamani away from a distinguished career at
Pratt & Whitney where he headed up the DPHM (Diagnostic Prognostic Health Management)
group within engineering, developing engine health management systems for jet engines—
including the innovative geared turbofan?
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Making Meggitt products ‘health-ready’
Rajamani will spend half his time spreading
the engine health management experience
across the group that resides in its most
concentrated form within Meggitt Sensing
Systems. He explains: “This division has
built and perfected health management
related technologies for key gas turbine
features. As a group, however, we can do
much more. With our extensive sensing
capabilities and knowledge of diverse
products and systems across engine and
airframe, we are uniquely positioned to
develop products that can elicit information
for optimal maintenance decision-making
across the board.
needs of parts before they fail and design
maintenance regimes that are optimal in
terms of safety and economics.
Rajamani is undertaking a review of all
Meggitt businesses to see what knowledge
resides in the group that can be exploited
and extended. He is especially excited about
Meggitt’s IVHM—Integrated Vehicle Health
Management—initiative. Meggitt has
been a longstanding partner with Boeing,
Rolls-Royce and other industry leaders in
the research and development programme
run by the Cranfield School of Management.
He will be helping the Meggitt team to
define the group’s IVHM strategy as the
industry moves to greater adoption of the
significant advances have been made in
data transmission technology. Advanced
analysis techniques are deployed on
increasingly sophisticated computing
hardware. “As more advances are made
in all these areas,“ Rajamani explains,
“it will become easier to deploy health
management systems and realise the
promised benefits.”
At the same time, he reminds us of the
significant financial and business incentives
to make IVHM work. The responsibility for
maintaining aircraft engines, for example,
is shifting away from the airline operator
to the engine-makers who are striking
long-term service agreements on a
In a rapidly globalising business era, we have to strive even harder to understand
and be understood by our fellow engineers in different parts of the world
Meggitt had already expanded its
engine health management field of view
before Rajamani came on board—for
example, developing a tyre pressure
monitoring system through a partnership
between the Sensing Systems and Aircraft
Braking Systems divisions. “There is a lot
of good work going on that we can take to
the next level,” Rajamani believes. And
there are obvious sub-system applications.
He quotes the Air Transport Association
Chapters 21, 26, 30 and 32 covering
Meggitt’s capabilities in vapour cycle airconditioning, fire detection and protection,
electro-thermal ice protection and landing
gear—prime candidates for the introduction
of health monitoring technologies.
Even where Meggitt only supplies
components, he says, there are
opportunities for making these products
‘health-ready’ for customers. This means
products with in-built diagnostic and
prognostic technologies that can enhance
operational reliability and availability.
Operators can use these systems to
anticipate the repair and replacement
60
00
concept. He is impressed at the group’s
approach. Meggitt’s strategy, sales and
marketing and engineering functions are
joining forces to address this as one team.
That’s why it will be successful,” he judges.
DIAGNOSTICS – using data and models
to find out what’s wrong (the current
state-of-health)
PROGNOSTICS – using data and
models to anticipate when things
might go wrong (the future trajectory
of the state)
HEALTH MANAGEMENT – establishing
the most cost-effective strategy for
maintaining an asset while meeting all
customer and safety requirements
why has ivhm come to the fore now?
IVHM-related technology has made
exponential leaps in this decade. There
are more sensors and electronics on
board aircraft and other vehicles and
per-flight-hour basis. They are as keen to
reduce maintenance costs as the operator
since it directly affects their bottom lines.
In turn, the engine-makers are requiring
their ‘Tier One’ suppliers to make their
systems health-ready. “Extending our
health management expertise will be key
to growing our sub-systems business with
these suppliers. We can also add significant
value to our products by making them
health-ready,” he confirms.
Professional societies such as the
SAE (formerly known as the Society of
Automotive Engineers) continue to play
their part, developing standards for
monitoring and diagnostics solutions in
aerospace. One of Rajamani’s tasks will
be to represent Meggitt on IVHM steering
and IVHM standards committees. Aided by
Meggitt associates from the divisions, he
will continue the work of Meggitt’s Senior
Vice President of Engineering, Richard
Greaves, who has played a longstanding
role in standard setting in vibration
monitoring and raising Meggitt’s profile in
the emerging IVHM field.
In a word, strategy. He says Meggitt is an agile global concern with a dynamic culture where he
can use his skills to make a difference at a strategic level. The new group engineering director is
playing two parts—deploying his strategic edge in ways that reflect his understanding of Indian
business and culture and exercising his hard-won technical expertise born of “a life in gas turbines.”
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT
Evolving our design centre in
India’s Silicon Valley
The other half of Rajamani’s time will be
spent defining the strategic development
of Meggitt’s relationship with HCL and its
Meggitt-dedicated engineering design centre
in Bangalore, India.
This will involve the development
of dedicated skill centres within the HCL
Meggitt Design Centre (HMDC) specialising in
engineering disciplines covering all Meggitt
businesses. Among the most promising is one
dedicated to RM&S (Reliability, Maintainability
and Safety).
RM&S activities are integral to the
deployment and certification of any system.
They involve conducting failure and reliability
analysis to enable mitigation actions to be
designed, maintenance plans prepared and
system safety assessed. This necessitates
significant amount of paperwork to support
system certification. Meggitt engineering
directors have consistently pointed to the
ease with which RM&S can be outsourced.
It is already being contracted out by many
divisions. Rajamani approves: “It ensures
all necessary importance is given to routine
tasks but in a cost-effective manner that
does not compromise quality. In turn, this
and channelled into more economical and
effective skill centres.
The HMDC is not just about enabling
Meggitt engineers to enjoy higher intellectual
content in their work. There is a shortage of
We can monitor many
parameters—and we have
the know-how to elicit
data with useful practical
applications from those
processes
skilled aerospace engineers in the West. “We
have had to turn away work because we did
not have the resources to do the job. Now,
HMDC allows us to bid for and win business
that we could not accommodate otherwise.
Further, we sometimes win business because
our competitors are too busy. Unfortunately, it
also works the other way round. We must put
ourselves in a better position to fuel organic
growth with our capacity to engineer.”
Rajamani stresses the theme of
partnership. “We want to evolve from a
system where we impose engineering quotas
on each division for the HMDC to a more
credibility, it can certainly help open doors in
Indian aerospace.”
In the short-term, Rajamani is looking
at the consolidation of tools and ironing out
some IT connectivity wrinkles. He is also
devising ways of enhancing day-to-day
relationships between the centre and Meggitt
teams to ensure consistency of quality and
delivery. He is confident. “I have worked with
other partners in previous roles and I find
HCL superior in a number of areas, not least
in terms of hiring, retention and morale,
which are critical success factors in
the relationship.”
when asked about the cultural issues
arising from east-west partnerships,
he says they are less than one might think.
“The world has shrunk and the cultural
differences are becoming better understood
across the hemispheres. At the same time,
in business circles, the dominant culture is
that of the West and Indians have adapted
quickly to it.” He continues: ”Most of the
Indians we work with are more comfortable
having technical discussions in English than
in their native tongues because technical
education at this level is largely done
in English.”
Extending our health management expertise is an important route to growing our
sub-systems business with the Tier One players but we can add significant value
to our products by making them health-ready
frees Meggitt engineers to move on to the
next customer problem requiring a higher
level of technical innovation.” An RM&S
skill centre, Rajamani reasons, would
also build on the solid base established
by Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems with
HCL before it was acquired by Meggitt in
2007. There are other process-oriented
activities that Meggitt businesses have
traditionally outsourced to multiple entities
that could be consolidated within the HMDC
flexible service that will enable us to respond
to the peaks and troughs in demand from
customers.” He says that the partnership
ethos could involve a joint approach to
exploiting the huge market opportunity in
India. Rajamani elaborates: “India and Asia
are projected to have the most growth in the
next decade in the areas in which Meggitt
is strongest—aerospace and energy. We
would not be wedded to HCL exclusively but
there is no doubt that because of its size and
Rajamani does not underplay fundamental
differences in culture. However, he is
relaxed: “There is no need to radically
change the way we deal with our Indian
colleagues, except to be a little patient
about the language and accents of some
very smart young people. In a rapidly
globalising business era, we have to
strive even harder to understand and be
understood by our fellow engineers in
different parts of the world.” ●
Adding values
The threads that bind us
See how Meggitt employees
are living our values
in a series of short films.
THE
ENABLER
THE
PRESIDENT
THE
FIXER
THE
AMBASSADOR
THE BIG SPENDER
(AND FRIENDS)
On ‘global team’
On ‘investment for
long-term growth’
On ‘customer
satisfaction’
On ‘operations
excellence’
On ‘integrity’
Georgina Whetstone
Regional Director
Meggitt Information
Services UK
Peter Huber
President
Meggitt Sensing Systems
Vin Lefante
Key Customer
Relationship Manager
Mark Urch
SVP, Operations
Excellence Meggitt
Polymers & Composites
Orly Garrett
Global Category Manager
Group Procurement
English language only www.mymeggitt.com/ourvalues
Plus Chinese, Danish, French, German, Spanish and Vietnamese:
www.mymeggitt.com/theconversation
Meggitt’s employee communications space
This publication The Meggitt Review is
Meggitt PLC’s magazine for employees.
Headquartered in the UK, Meggitt is an
international group operating in North
America, Europe and Asia.
Meggitt Known for its specialist extreme
environment engineering, Meggitt is a
world leader in smart engineering for
extreme environments within aerospace,
defence and energy.
www.meggitt.com
Editor and reporter Fiona Greig
Telephone/fax +44 (0) 1202 597587
Address Meggitt PLC
Atlantic House, Aviation Park West,
Bournemouth International Airport,
Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 6EW, UK
Design and Production Hybrid Creative

Winter 2011/12 as a PDF

Transcription

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