Dallas Airmotive’s new 220,000-sq-ft turbine engine repair and overhaul facility adjacent to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is now in operation and will become fully operational before the end of this year, according to Mark Johnstone, who became president and COO of BBA Aviation Global Engine Services on July 1. Dallas Airmotive is a BBA Global Engine Services company.
Next to the repair and overhaul facility and also opened in July is the company’s new 30,000-sq-ft, six-cell engine-test facility for turbofan, turboprop and turboshaft engines. “This is unlike any other such facility,” Johnstone told AIN. Designed for speed, flexibility and adaptability, it features customized data-acquisition software and an optimized modular layout for efficiency and quick turnaround times. “The facility can test engines up to 25,000-pounds’ thrust,” he explained, “which just about covers everything in the B&GA [business and general aviation] space, including the [Rolls-Royce] Tay 611-8C.” Testing an engine takes about 30 minutes, instead of as long as two hours, he added.
The new Dallas Airmotive MRO and test cell campus at DFW was two years in the making. “The construction process started in 2015,” Johnstone said. “What will trigger the end [of this process] is when we have exited from the former facilities in Neosho, Mo., and Forest Park in downtown Dallas. We’re moving tooling fixtures and repair-and-overhaul machinery. Our focus is to make sure the phased move goes extremely well and to plan, and that we provide a seamless return to our customers, as regards to turnaround times.” He said the TFE731 line is fully operational now at the DFW center, and the Tay line will be the last one to move at the end of December from the Forest Park facility. Both former facilities will be put up for sale.
Focus on the customer is high on Johnstone’s to-do list. “The MRO industry is often internally focused and does not have a strong enough focus on the customer,” he claimed. “We will be making significant effort to enhance the customer experience. Part of that is investing in facilities; the other part is improving our cost base. We want to become one the most efficient and competitive MRO facilities in the U.S, and indeed the world. Certainly, if you add up lowest costs with the happiest customers, you get a good return on your investment. We’ve made a significant investment in our manufacturing footprint in DFW and the Middle East. Together, that investment has been circa $100 million.” (The company opened a new test cell in Abu Dhabi for the PW206, 207, 210 and PT6C in 2015.)
Communication is an example of customer focus. “It’s not just about getting the engine back on time; it’s about the paperwork and communications that go with it,” Johnstone said. “It’s [also] about promised dates. It’s critical we get the engine back to the customer on the agreed date. I think it is fair to say that across the industry this is not the norm. My view is that it is not about the fastest turnaround time; it’s more about the guaranteed time. Operators need to know when they will get their aircraft back in service.”
He admits that it’s hard to guarantee everything and predict the “unknown unknowns.” But he insists that the company has “a huge strength in its employee base,” because the “majority have been with us more than 20 years. They have experience in predicting challenges and failures on engines from their own knowhow and where the aircraft are operated.”
He said that Dallas Airmotive has invested heavily in data, and is “trying to learn from our repair and overhaul experiences, so we can be more predictive. Therefore, when we quote the business up front, we can be more tailored to that operator, rather than making a generic ‘one price, one engine’ quote. It’s about data, knowledge and using our experience to better meet our customers’ needs.”
Summing up, Johnstone said, “For us, 2017 will be much more about enhancing the customer experience. We see investments in communication, technology and data as a significant investment that will generate payback in customer loyalty. It's a journey, not a one-time fix.”
