Embraer's Melbourne, Fla. engineering and technical center has rapidly staffed up and next year is projected to employ 200 between its interior and material engineering divisions, up from the current 160. “Our intention is to become the interior center of excellence,” said Jeff Chaney, the center's mechanical engineering manager. “We've acquired a lot of younger people right out of college. We don't need rocket science here, we need creative people. It's worked out very well.”
Embraer finds a lot of talent in Florida, often recruiting from nearby Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Florida Institute of Technology, and the University of Central Florida. “We get everybody through some training courses right away and get them trained up the Embraer way, get them trained in the FAA requirements to do the job right, and then partner them with some more seasoned people to mentor them and create the next generation of great engineers. We've been very successful with that,” Chaney said.
The center is tasked with integrating product change requests from customers and providing production, manufacturing, and interior engineering support. Embraer's aircraft assembly plant for the Phenom 100 and 300 and the Legacy 450/500 is located just across the street. “The customer is king, and he gets whatever he wants,” explained Chaney. “But we work with the industrial design team to work with the customer to make sure they get what they want in a style that is functional in the aircraft.”
A team of 20 works on nothing but integrating supplemental type certificate (STC) modifications into the fleet, with most of that work devoted to the Phenom light-jet line, where Wi-Fi and satphone installations have become more commonplace as prices have come down. Occasionally the team also works on projects involving larger aircraft, such as the recently changed Fadec requirements on the Legacy 650s. “It's not a ton [of work)], but it's enough to keep 20 people going pretty good. It's a good revenue stream. And most importantly, it keeps our customers aligned with Embraer. We can update the manuals better than anyone else,” Chaney said.
Specific engineering disciplines on the staff fall within the realms of electrical, avionics, materials, stress, and structures. The team does not cover major structures or mechanical systems such as landing gear and occasionally will find itself working with Embraer Brazil on issues such as human factors. About half the Florida engineers have been to headquarters in Brazil for training and to forge relationships with their Brazilian counterparts, Chaney said.
Employees at the technical center not only benefit from working in a new open, airy building with lots of windows and natural light, they have the latest design and prototyping tools. These include Catia v5 3D design software; the Canon Mreal virtual reality system; 3D printers and thermoformers; full-size cabin mock-ups; avionics jigs and racks; a materials burn chamber; and an extreme temperature and vibration test chamber for torturing all manner of components. “We want people to be happy here. I came from a company that stuck us in an old hangar. It wasn't really a great environment to foster creativity. So there was a lot of thought in putting the building together,” said Chaney. The tools ensure that the customer receives a reliable aircraft. “It's all about reliability, giving the customer a good product that will hold up for the life of their aircraft,” he said, pointing to the “torture chamber” as an example. “There are no surprises. We test to four-to-five times the life of a part with the G forces and temperatures at the extremes of those parts' parameters. We require our suppliers to do it. If they can't do it, they do it here. We shake and bake and see what it does.”
Likewise, the futuristic virtual reality room ensures that interior designs beget no unintended consequences. Images are generated with data from the Catia drawings. “We use it for serviceability as we design the interior; things like making sure you can reach behind a sidewall panel, making sure you are not running ductwork through fasteners, that you have enough room to work in the galley and can get to the drawers okay,” Chaney said. “It really gives us a good application to aid a designer before we start building parts and putting everything together.”
Technical center engineers also rely on old-fashioned, life-size mock-ups, especially when working with customer focus groups. Chaney explains how Embraer killed plans for an enlarged galley on the Legacy 450 after customers who saw it on the mock-up rejected it in favor of more legroom in the main cabin. Using the mock-up helped center engineers “stay aligned with the customer wishes.”
