Change Agent
Michael Ryan, Vice-President and General
Manager, Bombardier Aerospace Belfast
AM: Bombardier plans to invest £520 million Our patented resin transfer infusion aircraft. MRT support for the Learjet
($862 million) in Belfast for wing development (RTI) process allows us to replace the 60 is expected to commence before
and production for its CSeries commercial jet. Do fan cowl’s honeycomb interior with a year-end and will follow for other
those plans include expansion in your mainte- monolithic structure. The one-piece models in 2010.
nance service? component is more robust and dura- Since its official launch at EBACE
Ryan: Whilst Belfast Customer ble, and it delivers an appreciable in May, the MRT has responded to
Services has no current plans to pro- weight reduction. a wide range of customer requests
vide maintenance for the CSeries, we In addition, a new oil-servicing in Europe. Team members have also
propose to offer repair and overhaul access door reduces on-wing mainte- travelled beyond Europe and recently
on the CSeries wing components nance time by eliminating the need to supported customers in the Middle
manufactured in Belfast such as the open the fan cowls for servicing. And, East and Africa.
slats, flaps, ailerons and winglets. This also, a dedicated product development AM: Is your PartsExpress service for the Learjet,
expansion to our repair and overhaul cell has been created to develop new Challenger and Global aircraft fully set up?
capacity will be in addition to our repair capability on products not man- Ryan: Our PartsExpress service
CSeries investment. Since the CSeries ufactured at the Belfast site. coordinators are located in Montreal
entry into service is planned for 2013, AM: You had planned to transfer your American and Wichita, but they use a broad
strategic plans regarding support are at nacelle repair to Dallas. Has that been com- network of European operators to
an early stage and, as a result, figures pleted? transport parts quickly. We have been
on proposed investment and additional Ryan: The decision to open a enhancing our parts stock in Frankfurt
personnel are not yet available. repair facility in the United States to further complement this service by
AM: You did expand your repair and overhaul was the next step in supporting increasing our inventory of the top 25
business in 2006. What has been the result? our growing customer base in the high-demand parts and achieving a 95
Ryan: Belfast Customer Services Americas. By bringing our services percent stocking level.
opened an expanded repair and over- closer to our customers we have PartsExpress is a tool that works
haul facility in November 2006. The been able to improve turnaround hand-in-hand with our European MRT.
50,000-square-foot (4,645-m2) facility time and deliver optimum value, AM: Turning to manufacturing, what is the
carries out repairs primarily on engine which are key advantages in today’s status of the CSeries’ composite wing?
nacelles. The workshop is currently economic climate. Ryan: Groundwork has begun
handling a volume of 200 nacelles Belfast initially placed employees in Belfast on the new composite
annually, but it has the capacity to on a short-term secondment basis manufacturing facility required to
increase volumes by implementing in Dallas to allow the new business produce the wings. This new factory
additional shifts. to stabilize and provide a seam- will house the highly specialised,
Our company repairs the inlet cowls, less transition for customers. The manufacturing equipment for the
fan cowl doors and engine build units Dallas facility now has a local staff resin transfer manufacturing pro-
on a variety of Airbus and Boeing air- of around 20. We have fully trans- cess. The primary structural compo-
craft. We also repair those products ferred our U.S. nacelle repair work nents of the composite wing will be
plus the thrust reversers and tail pipe to the Dallas facility. manufactured using the resin trans-
fairing on the Bombardier CRJ200, 700 AM: Tell us about your recently installed 24/7 fer infusion composites technology
and 900, and those items plus the turbo- Mobile Response Team (MRT) service. process developed in Belfast.
prop nacelle on the Bombardier Q400. Ryan: All six members of our new The highly complex demonstra-
AM: Is further expansion in maintenance and Mobile Response Team are EASA- tor wing assembly fixture has been
repair planned? licensed and operate under Bombardier constructed, as well as most of the
Ryan: The company is investing Belfast maintenance approval. Based major components, which are now
heavily in developing new technol- across Europe, including Belfast, being assembled. We are on track
ogy to ensure that business continues Farnborough and Berlin, the team to commence testing of the dem-
to expand. For example, we have is available round the clock to pro- onstrator wing by fiscal year end.
developed a new fan cowl door that vide AOG [aircraft on ground] main- The first test wing will be delivered
offers major reliability improvements. tenance for Global and Challenger during 2011.
52 Aviation Maintenance | avmain-mag.com | Oct/Nov2009
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