On the Record with
Roger Seager, Vice President Marketing & Sales, GE Aircraft Engines

"If our customers aren't successful, we can't be." So says Roger Seager, who has just taken over the hot seat as VP for marketing and sales for all powerplants at GE Aircraft Engines. In his new role he is responsible for all commercial and military marketing contacts with GE's customers.

In the aftermath of September 11, that job has kept him particularly busy, as GEAE tries to help the airlines stay in business any way it can.

But then Seager came to this job from another hot seat in GEAE-in charge of customer relations as the CF6 airline engine (which last year celebrated its 30th anniversary) ran into a spate of serious technical problems.
"There are times your problems keep you in front of your customers, and you develop a great relationship as a result of dealing with those problems," Seager said. "At the end of the day our customers felt good about how we worked through those problems, and I feel good about what we did with the product-for example, setting up the hospital shop, OnWing Support, developing inspection technologies that reduced the inspections. In short, a lot of things that made the customer very pleased.

"We had a couple of situations where it forced it us to work very closely with our customer, and we managed to delight them. Many, many airlines around the world realize we run into problems from time to time, and where GE excelled was that we solved the problem quickly without any major intervention from them."

Now the shoe is on the other foot-the airlines are in trouble, and GE is doing what it can to assist.

"This help isn't just engine related," said Seager.

A prime example is GE's "At the Customer, For the Customer" program where it lends teams of Six Sigma Black Belts to airlines for use in improving processes in any area, from the tire shop to flight scheduling. This free consulting has netted the airlines some $400 million in cost savings so far, according to GEAE. The program stemmed from customers saying to GE "You're always telling us how great Six Sigma is, why don't you show us what it means?"

Seager said GEAE has now done "thousands" of these programs, and has tripled the number of teams in the field since September 11. He believes the company is ahead of any other in allocating such massive resources to customer support.

On the program side, Seager said GEAE remains fully committed to developing new products and services for the next few years ahead that will help airlines fly more profitably. Not just engines, but ways to infuse new technology into GEAE's massive installed base in a way that makes economic sense.

"The installed base is seeing this leverage of technology, not just for the sake of having the latest GE-whiz, but as a way of improving reliability, durability, and lowering cost of ownership."

The Six Sigma teams at the airlines are helping GEAE understand how airlines work, and are bringing that knowledge back to GEAE as another factor to be considered in developing new technology.

"The more we can understand, the better," said Seager. "You've really got to understand the customer and think like your customer as you start approaching them with some of these improvements. It can no longer be 'what's good for me,' its got to be win-win, and we can only achieve that when we truly understand how each airline operates."

For example, an airline with a short ownership horizon may not be interested in buying technology that extends an engine's time on wing by 15%, but perhaps other GE services or improvements could lower its cost of ownership in its particular operation, Seager pointed out.

By John Morris