On the Record with FRANCOIS QUENTIN, SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THALES AVIONICS
SYSTEMS GROUP
What's the best way to reduce risk and gain access to new markets
and product lines? For Thales Avionics, the answer to all questions
is partnering.
"We have real knowledge and understanding on the way we manage
joint ventures," said Thales Avionics senior EVP Francois
Quentin.
The company's joint venture successes received an international
stamp of imprimatur earlier this year when Russian President Vladimir
Putin toured the Thales Avionics site at Le Haillan in the Bordeaux
region to check up on the progress of the MiG-AT cockpit demonstrator.
Thales' contribution to the trainer comprises the complete avionics
system, including the instrument panel, plus navigation and communications
system.
Thales is working with Ramenskoye on the laser gyro system, with
GosNIIAS on the software, and Elektroavtomatika on the LCD displays.
Thales has worked with Russian companies since the mid-1970s,
when it developed instrument panels for the Tupolev Tu-154 airliner.
Quentin also points to a joint venture with Diehl Avionics, which
has paid dividends in contracts on the Airbus A380. The partners
will provide both the door management and flap management systems
for the double-decker.
"We share technology, and pool sales and marketing efforts,"
Quentin said "You're stronger with two rather than standing
alone on the sides."
And the goal for Thales Avionics in the next year? "To prepare
to get out of the current crisis with an improved set of products
and services, and to prepare to address the market in a few years
from now by making sure we do not miss opportunities."
For Thales Avionics that means staying focused on one of its most
important programs-the cockpit display system for the Airbus A380,
which along with sundry other avionics systems on the super-jumbo
will account for hundreds of millions of euros in revenues in
coming years.
And in the near future, Thales has its eyes on Boeing's proposed
7E7 program. The company is on Boeing's 'systems technology team,'
which Quentin says means that the French manufacturer has been
short-listed to supply a variety of subsystems-specifically a
power conversion system and flight control management.
At the top of Thales' action plan for the future is placement
of its products on the Airbus A400M, which finally received a
go-ahead in late May when Germany agreed to purchase the four-engine
turboprop military transport. Thales Avionics is hoping to provide
flight deck systems for navigation and communication, and will
be competing against companies such as Smiths and Honeywell for
the work.
Quentin feels that Thales has the upper edge on those companies
due to its competitiveness, not because it is a French company
that may have an inside track on winning programs on the airlifter
because of political issues.
"We are in a long-sighted business and are focused on improving
relationships with customers," said Quentin. "The political
level goes back and forth, and we work in long-term cycles. We consider
ourselves outside this discussion or disagreement on political matters."
