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On the Record with
JOHN FERRIE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SMITHS AEROSPACE
Boeing's 7E7 has become the largest single program for Smiths
Aerospace, worth more than €2.1 billion ($2.6 billion) over
the life of the program.
"It's our biggest program to date, although the Joint Strike Fighter
comes close," John Ferrie, managing director of Smiths Aerospace,
Europe's largest supplier of systems to the world's aerospace industry,
told Show News. "The wins we've had are the largest single wins
in our history."
Smiths Aerospace will develop and supply the highly advanced Common
Core System (CCS) for the 7E7. Acting like its central nervous system,
the 7E7 CCS is the backbone of the airplane's computers, networks,
and interfacing electronics, and will host all of the airplane's
avionics and utilities functions. The system will replace dozens
of traditional, standalone computers and data busses fitted to present
day aircraft. Smiths will integrate third party supplier-developed
applications and associated software onto the CCS in its role as
first-tier integrator.
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Smiths Industries came to the fore in 1966 when a Trident
test aircraft equipped with a Smiths autopilot became the
first civil airliner to land in thick fog under fully automatic
control.
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Smiths will also develop and supply the high lift and landing gear
actuation systems for the 7E7 under contracts that could be worth
up to €1.3 billion ($1.6 billion).
"Boeing set some very challenging cost and performance goals,"
said Ferrie. "A few years ago we were selling actuators for a few
thousand pounds, now we're selling systems worth hundreds of thousands
of pounds. The new platform gave us a blank sheet of paper.
"For the CCS we were able to put together a single solution with
a partitioned environment, eliminating a huge amount of weight and
complexity."
Smiths Aerospace is doing particularly well in the U.S., partly
aided by the footprint there of TI Industries (including Dowty)
which it acquired in 2001. It has a significant presence on the
Joint Strike Fighter, has contracts in excess of €202 million
($250 million) for providing avionics to the C-130-AMP upgrade program,
is developing new technologies including autonomous UAV refueling
for Boeing tankers, and is a major supplier to Cessna for its Citation
business jets. Most recently Smiths was a member of the team that
won the competition for the U.S. Navy's Multimission Maritime aircraft,
which will involve the acquisition of up to 109 specially-modified
Boeing 737s. Smith's annual revenues of €1.3 billion ($1.6
billion) are now split equally between Europe and North America.
Ferrie sees his main challenge today as controlling costs.
"That's the challenge for the industry as a whole, " he said. "How
to significantly reduce the cost of what we offer. Six Sigma and
Lean manufacturing are two powerful processes; they help remove
the variation. The how to do it is fairly well known, but the trick
now is to do it faster and better.
"Cost reduction is a journey, not a destination."
—John Morris
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