Eaton Aerospace

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :11/06/2008 16:48:54

It was Darwin who developed the theory of “natural selection”, where only the strongest survive. Exec recently spoke with Alex Baldock of Eaton Aerospace and learned this is particularly true in the aerospace industry

Written by Ian Armitage and Produced by Aaron Wells

So you want to survive in business? You want to succeed where others have failed? If so, it is simply not enough to be proficient. If you want results, you have to perform better than the rest; only then can reach the top the pile.

This is particularly true of the highly competitive aerospace industry, where every player wants to reach the summit - a place where Eaton Aerospace, says Alex Baldock, South Molton plant manager, is working on getting.

Exec enquired about the role the South Molton plant plays within Eaton Corporation. We learnt that it is a fairly recent addition to the Group and that a lot of work has been done to ensure it is fully integrated.

Indeed, it was in October 2005 that Eaton bought the aerospace fluid and air division of Cobham plc for $270 million. At the time, the division, based at Titchfield in Hampshire, had a turnover of £107 million. It had three manufacturing locations in the UK and one of those was at South Moulton in Devon, a site of Cobham FR-HiTemp, which provided low-pressure airframe fuel systems, electro-mechanical actuation, air ducting and hydraulic and power generation.

Devon isn’t exactly renowned as an aero-industry hub, but the acquisition allowed Eaton to capitalise on its strengths in fluid conveyance and pump technology through the products, capabilities and customers of Cobham’s fluid and air division. Since then, staff, both onsite in South Molton and in other Eaton facilities in the UK, have worked on getting to the “top of the tree”.

Top of the class

In the aerospace industry, Eaton - the multi-billion dollar US-based company - is a leading supplier of hydraulic, electro-hydraulic pump and generator products and integrated systems as well as structural components like wing struts.

It has a truly diverse offering and looks to acquire businesses with similar attributes. The South Molton site has its own foundry and a machine shop, as well as turning, test and assembly capabilities making components for the Airbus A380, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Eurofighter Typhoon. It’s easy to see why Eaton wanted it.

However, it wasn’t perfect - although it had a lot going for it, something was missing. What was that? Well, it didn’t have the world-renowned Eaton Business System (EBS), which Baldock says has made Eaton “the best in class.”

Baldock’s objective is to “fully integrate EBS at the South Molton plant.” He adds: “Eaton has a very strong, prescriptive methodology and to ensure we worked in a similar vain, we needed to embrace the EBS.”

He’s done a great job in doing so.

When Baldock joined Eaton aerospace four years ago from Goodrich, he knew that much needed to be done. He has helped the site embrace Eaton tools like lean and six sigma (ELSS), recognizing the role they could play in making the site a world class business. “ELSS helps us understand exactly what we do and where we need to improve. It shows us how we are doing financially and helps us monitor our inventory, on-time delivery and quality,” explains Baldock.

A lot of companies have vision, strategies, objectives, goals and tasks, and produce good results. However, that doesn’t make them world class. EBS seems to almost guarantee success as it focuses on values, competencies and behaviours.

It asks sometimes tricky questions like ‘are you a confident manager? Can you motivate others?’ – questions many don’t like asking.

It’s easy to see why both Baldock and Eaton were keen to see it introduced. “I think given Eaton’s fast track to growth and very aggressive financial targets, EBS is a very prescriptive way of putting the Eaton footprint on a new acquisition, which is what we were,” says Baldock. “It is a very systematic way of ensuring all sites are aligned to the same goals and we are committed to it. We are all part of the same machine and look forward to the future with increased optimism.”

Future growth

EBS is playing an important part in the South Molton plant’s future. Indeed, not only will it become a world class facility, it will also be able to focus on the innovations of tomorrow.

“We have to be able to safeguard future profitability,” says Baldock. “EBS helps us to that in our day-to-day activities.

“Through the tools of EBS, we can build a platform for growth and innovation. There is a lifecycle on all programmes, so you have to make sure that you have a proportion of business that will kick off at the beginning of the life-cycle so you can continue your volume of activity. If that’s not the case, you need to find the right size quickly.

“So, you see, it is as vital to introduce new products as it is to streamline. EBS helps us do that in a controlled manner.”

Eaton Aerospace Ltd., which specialises in the design and production of high quality components and systems for applications in civil and defence markets is well placed for the future. It is a supplier to most of the world’s aircraft manufacturers, and support equipment in the field with airlines and air forces worldwide.

“We are world leaders in aircraft fuel systems, providing a total systems design leadership capability, together with an unsurpassed range of fuel equipment,” concludes Baldock.