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www.avm-mag.com Bill Norman President TIMCO Commercial
In your opinion, what is the state of the aviation maintenance industry? The commercial aircraft maintenance segment, like the rest of the aerospace industry, is clearly in a stronger state of fiscal health than it has been for the last five years. 2012 was a particularly busy year for contract bids by North American operators, especially for base maintenance. In addition to work that had been previously contracted, there were several new programs as well from operators that had previously handled certain maintenance activities in-house. This of course has had the effect of helping to absorb some of the excess capacity that seemed to prevail in the market, especially in North America. What were the biggest developments for your company in 2012? We were very excited to launch new regional aircraft base maintenance operations at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). We acquired a purpose- built hangar facility there and made an investment in equipment and tooling to provide a complete scope of services from light work through heavy checks. The team we hired has extensive experience with Embraer and Bombardier fleet types, and their acclimation and adjustment to TIMCO processes and culture has exceeded expectations. Importantly, the business has performed better than planned in its first few months, gaining a strong reputation for quality and dependability. We are looking forward to continued growth through CVG in the RJ market space. What are the biggest changes you have seen in the MRO industry in the last several years? There is no question that independent MRO consolidation and the shutdown of Aveos’ operations created changes in terms of operator-provider relationships. We have found that an interesting and healthy by-product has been the desire by providers and airlines to enter into new, longer-term agreements for MRO support. We are hopeful this represents a growing recognition by both groups of the value the extended commitments can offer each party over time. What did your company do in 2012 to adapt to changes in the market? While not driven by the market directly, we made a significant, invigorated push into continuous improvement at each of our facilities. We know that our customers’ expectations for quality and shorter fleet down time have increased, and we consider CI to be an important way for us to deliver results safely and effectively. While CI has been a part of TIMCO’s culture for many years, we made investments in 2012 that will support faster sharing of best practices and new lessons learned among our different operations. We sent leaders and managers to training to bolster CI support through greater coaching, guidance and follow through with regular team performance reviews and recognition. Some of the team efforts have been truly impressive, leading directly to the bottom line and to helping our customers with faster turn times and early aircraft deliveries. What are the trends, big or small, you are beginning to see in the MRO business? With regard to the airframe and line maintenance segments of our business, we have been seeing an increasing interest by operators in the condition of their cabins. We have specifically been receiving increased requests for cabin update programs including new or refurbished seats, improved stowage bins, updated IFE systems, etc. For more of Bill Norman’s answers go to
www.avm-mag.com
Virender Aggarwal CEO Ramco Commercial
In your opinion, what is the state of the aviation maintenance industry? The aviation maintenance industry is going through a consolidation phase with third party MROs becoming stronger by expansions and through M&A. Airlines continue to demerge their MRO operations into separate entities that are mutually beneficial—MROs become more competitive and profitable as independent entities. Many private helicopter operators are now publicly traded companies with pressure to show growth and profitability. While air travel continues to increase, cost of operations has also been increasing over the last 15 years—contributed by increased fuel costs, insurance rates, new technologies, new aircraft and part pricing, shift to composites—to name a few, resulting in low profit margins. Operators and MROs are challenged by their executive teams and/or shareholders to increase efficiencies and reduce maintenance costs by reducing inventory levels, shift to centralized planning and reduction of staff. The new technology changes have added learning pressures to the maintenance community which needs to be trained to handle the changes in the way maintenance is planned and completed. Aviation maintenance is also suffering from an ageing population. This is quite evident in the helicopter and smaller aircraft industries—partially contributed by the economic downturn in the past. Most of the action is happening in the emerging markets of APAC, Middle East, India, and China as compared to the western markets. Though aviation maintenance is under a lot of economic pressure to evolve, the outlook is optimistic. What were the biggest developments for your company in 2012? Ramco is transforming itself into a market-led company from a technology/R&D-led company. Increased investment in marketing to bring visibility and building brand “Ramco.” Other developments include: •
Ramco is leveraging its first mover advantage of its success with on Cloud ERP in India to Aviation MRO and other products in the global market
• “Mobile First, Rest Later” strategy for product development—all products can run on iPad and iPhone and other smart mobile devices
• Next generation aviation product with uber-cool user interfaces through WorkSpaces—a first in the industry. •
Product functionalities that leverage social media, in-memory computing (thru “Minnal” offering) and connected ecosystem to bring value to customer.
• Entry into new markets such as Africa, South America and Australia thru local presence • Drive in building partner ecosystem across the world for all product offerings What are the biggest changes you have seen in the MRO industry in the last several years? The industry is trying to deal with the reality of hard global economic changes and the collapse or near collapse of many established North American airlines (Pinnacle) and MRO facilities (Aveos). For more of Virender Aggarwal’s answers go to
www.avm-mag.com
44 Aviation Maintenance |
avm-mag.com | April 2013
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