Concerns over production quality at rotorcraft manufacturer reach US undersecretary of defence Michael Wynne
The US Navy is pressing for "cultural changes" at Bell Helicopter Textron to address parts shortages and production quality lapses hampering the company's role in both the V-22 Osprey and the UH-1Y/AH-1Z Huey upgrade programmes.
Concerns about Bell's production quality have risen to the attention of US undersecretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics Michael Wynne. He has asked to be informed of the company's progress towards improving its record as the Bell Boeing V-22 programme advances toward a full-rate production (FRP) decision next year, said programme manager Col Craig Olson at Farnborough International.
The V-22 has shown dramatic progress in flight tests in recent months, allowing programme officials to focus more attention on other critical problems, such as Bell's manufacturing problems. Failure to improve could provide another stumbling block for the programme, says Olson.
"We want to ensure that this issue is not a showstopper for the programme," Olson says. Bell is committed to making the needed improvements, he adds, but "the only question on the table is the pace of this change. This is to ensure that Bell is completely postured for a 2005 production decision."
Bell's V-22 manufacturing partner Boeing is not part of the problem, says Olson.
The current effort began several months ago. Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) decided to dispatch a team of production experts to inspect Bell's plants in Texas. The team was focused on the causes of shortfalls in spare parts inventories and Bell's inability to focus the efforts of several centres of excellence, says Olson. Navair has established 11 performance metrics to gauge Bell's progress.
Bell executives are supporting the initiative. The company's recent low-rate production contract for 11 V-22s includes a commitment to reduce spare parts shortages by 30%, says V-22 programme manager Mike Tkach.
Meanwhile, the V-22 showed progress during an operational assessment, says Olson, but evaluators said the aircraft failed to meet three reliability metrics. The programme must address those shortfalls before the aircraft can begin an initial operational test and evaluation period later this year.
Source: Flight International
