Textron’s Bell Helicopter unit has enjoyed the top rank in the annual AIN product support survey for years, but its reputation in the field was tarnished somewhat in 2013 and even into 2014 when the company’s implementation of new enterprise resource planning (ERP) software temporarily slowed parts delivery and its customer support response. It took months for Bell to dig its way out, and the company took the highly unusual step of issuing what amounted to a public apology.

The head of Bell’s product support and service at the time, Eric Cardinali, told customers in 2014, “Last year, Bell Helicopter transitioned to a new enterprise resource planning system that caused some temporary setbacks that we have worked diligently to overcome. We are now starting to reap the longer-term benefits of this difficult transition, as the data we obtain from the new system is increasing transparency along our entire supply chain, allowing leaders to make more informed decisions regarding resource allocation and aftermarket support. I can assure you your future service levels have the strict attention of all organizations within Bell Helicopter.”

Cardinali left Bell in December to lead global operations for Textron’s Kautex business unit. He was replaced in January by helicopter industry veteran Barry Kohler, who most recently was president of Bell Helicopter Textron Canada. At present, Bell builds all its civil helicopters in Canada.

More Work Ahead

In a far-reaching interview with AIN, Kohler said he is “not satisfied” with Bell’s current level of product support.

“I’m proud of our progress, but no I am not satisfied,” he said. “One of the things that’s difficult about Bell helicopters is that they are all over the planet. It is difficult from a logistics point to figure out where to put how much stuff. Components that need to be replaced with regular use need to be regionally based, and we need to maintain a degree of rotables here [Bell Fort Worth]. Our focus has been on delivering parts on time to the customer. There’s always room for improvement there. Looking to the future we need to think strategically about our inventory and how we ensure that operators are satisfied with their aircraft availability. That’s having the parts available at the right place at the right time so the customers can get flying as quickly as possible.”

Kohler said he has three short and longer-term goals for Bell product support. 

“First, we need to continue to improve our spare parts delivery to the field. Introducing SAP [Bell’s new ERP software] caused some disruptions, so our focus is to make sure our customers are doing as well as possible. Second, we need to look at how we are going to improve our global service delivery model for all of our customers. The growth in globalization is going to be important. We have a wide global footprint, and I want to make sure it is crystal clear to our customer base how to access that. Third, how are we going to do business in 2020? Most people in the helicopter business have been doing business for the same way for a long time, but what will our customers’ needs look like based on our product portfolio in 2020?”

Providing the best maintenance training is an integral part of world-class customer support, Kohler said. “We are focused on maintenance and pilot training as part of our overall commitment to safety. We want to put our operators in the best position to operate safely. We’ve identified training as an opportunity to expand globally and have a stronger influence within the operator community with the scope and quality of our training, not only at the Bell Academy here in Fort Worth, but also with the full-flight simulator in Spain.” (Bell plans to open a regional training facility in Valencia, Spain early next year.) Kohler added that Bell is developing 3-D high-fidelity graphics to use for maintenance training on its new helicopters, including the 525, and that training programs for the 505, Bell’s new light single, will be unveiled shortly.

The 505 is powered by the Turbomeca Arrius 2R. It’s the first time Bell has used Turbomeca engine, but Kohler said Bell is confident the engine maker will support it properly. “I think it would be fair to say [Turbomeca] might not have enjoyed the [negative] reputation [for customer support] it had ten years ago, but we have seen a big effort to improve. In fact, we have concrete examples of customers who now say that Turbomeca is one of the best engine suppliers–if not the best–to them when it comes to support. It has improved capabilities at [its support facility in] Grand Prairie [Texas] and we are impressed with how much it has done to improve customer support,” Kohler said.

On the 525 Relentless super-medium twin, Kohler said that Bell is working with customers to determine how much capability to build into that aircraft’s onboard health usage and monitoring system and how to propagate that data once collected. “The hooks are in the aircraft [to capture the data] but we don’t necessarily have the infrastructure within the operator community or our internal operations [to share the data effectively] yet,” Kohler said. “I personally see a market demand for it and I think all our operators will eventually adopt it and it will be a real market advantage for us.”

Kohler said the longer inspection intervals and a greater use of on-condition components in Bell’s new models should also contribute to a substantial improvement in operating economics and customer satisfaction. Bell has not unveiled an hourly maintenance plan for its new or legacy helicopters, but Kohler sees this as a likely direction for the company. “It is a good opportunity for us to be a leader in how we support our operators globally. This is clearly an area where the industry needs to go,” he said.