Defence Business: Turbomeca expands military support | ADM June 2009
This approach seems set to pay off as the company expands into a new, dedicated military support facility.
Gregor Ferguson | Sydney
Bankstown-based Turbomeca Australia has grown from a shop of 18 people producing 33 engines in 2000 to a plant of 130 people releasing over 220 engines in 2008.
This spectacular growth is the result of a strong commitment to training and developing local staff, in addition to the significant financial investment to process control and capabilities supporting this expansion.
In 2008 the company achieved an annual turnover of some €41 million, generated by a workforce of 130.
It carried out 220 engine overhauls, or final assemblies in the case of the RTM322 engine for the MRH90 helicopter.
It also assembled the MTR390 helicopter for the Army's Tiger Armed Reconnaissance helicopter (ARH); deliveries of these are now complete.
The company's military engine fleet in Australia currently consists of the Arriel engines powering Navy's Squirrel training helicopters, some 51 MTR390s for the Tigers and a planned 103 RTM322s for the MRH90s; of these some eight have been delivered to Australian Aerospace from Bankstown, along with the engines delivered by the parent company in Bordes to Eurocopter at Marignane for the four MRH90s built there.
The company has signed an 11-year support contract for the MTR390, and has just signed a five-year in-service support contract for the RTM322, Turbomeca Australasia Managing Director Stewart Noel told ADM.
While the current installed engine base supports an ongoing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business, Noel told ADM the company aims to secure more of the military helicopter engine market in Australia and New Zealand.
Over the long term this will see the military MRO's share of the company's business rise from today's relatively low figure to around 50 per cent of its MRO turnover.
For this reason the company has begun the second phase of a major expansion program at Bankstown.
It opened its new Waratah Building in August 2007; this added some 1,300m2 to the company's existing workshop floor space at Bankstown to cope with its existing (mainly civil) business and to meet the future demands of assembling and then supporting the MTR390 and RTM322 engines.
Earlier in 2009 Turbomeca Australasia acquired a new site adjacent to the Waratah Building, but just outside the Bankstown Airport perimeter.
A former printworks, this building will add 1,820m2 of additional workshop space and, says Noel, the company's military engines business will be consolidated here from July 2009.
The new site will cope easily with the current workload and can be expanded easily and rapidly to cope with increased volume.
Growth avenues
That increased volume could come from a number of sources, says Noel: if the RAN selects the NFH90 to replace its Seahawk and Seasprite helicopters under Project Air 9000 Ph.8, this could see up to 27
aircraft and over 54 additional RTM322s enter service.
And if a Turbomeca-powered helicopter is selected as the ADF's new rotary wing training platform under Air 9000 Ph.7 this would see the installed base grow even further.
In all the company has invested over $15 million in its local operations since 1994, reflecting its greater than 50 per cent share in the turbine helicopter engine market in Australasia and the wider region; the message that Noel has emphasised to the ADF is that the company is making a long-term commitment to its Australian customers and its purchase of the new military engine shop is designed to solidify that position.
In New Zealand, although the RNZAF's NH90s will be delivered direct from France the company desires to support their engines from Bankstown.
Elsewhere in the region the MTR390 and RTM322 haven't really penetrated the market as yet, and it's hard to say how far potential regional customers would insist upon engine support being carried out in-country.
However, Turbomeca Australasia plays a global role as the parent company's MRO facility for all MTR390 and RTM322 engines for which Turbomeca has in-service support responsibility.
Except for customers who have established MRO facilities in-country for these engines, all MTR390 and RTM322 MRO activities will be carried out in Australia.
The Turbomeca Australasia facility was the first in the world qualified to carry out repair work for the MTR390, so with the addition of the RTM322 these capabilities have the potential to provide a significant revenue stream over time.
Like any European or US company establishing an operation in Australia, Turbomeca grapples with logistics challenges.
Geography dictates that spares can take three days to arrive from Bordes, so spares inventory management is critical, says Noel.
So also is the company's local technical base: Bankstown is one of four global technical ‘hubs' established by Turbomeca around the world and so in technical and product support terms Turbomeca's front-line staff have "24 hour a day" access to the full array of Turbomeca resources.
Part of a whole
Turbomeca Australia's footprint is bolstered by its parent company's own parent, the SAFRAN Group, which has a growing presence in Australia.
The group's best-known subsidiary is SNECMA, the GE partner for the CFM engines, but the SAFRAN presence is deeper and broader than this: no less than 12 separate subsidiaries, including Microturbo, Messier-Bugatti, Labinal, Turbomeca and SAGEM Defense et Securite provide airframe, engine and avionics components for the MRH90.
These include the pilotage FLIR, INS/GPS and electronic flight control computers (SAGEM Defense et Securite), wiring looms (Labinal), Auxiliary Power Unit (Microturbo) and haul-down device used for deck landing (Messier-Bugatti).
The SAGEM Defense et Securite presence in Australia goes well beyond the rotary wing environment.
The company was selected last year to provide the VAMPIR NG Infra Red Search & Track (IRST) system for the RAN's new Air warfare Destroyers (AWD) and Amphibious Landing Ships (LHD); it had already supplied the VAMPIR NG as part of the Anti-Ship Missile defence (ASMD) upgrade for the RAN's eight Anzac-class frigates.
And back in 2006 the company won an order for 11 SIGA 40XP gyrolaser INS systems to upgrade the navigation system on the RAN's Collins-class submarine fleet.
Turbomeca is also a close partner of UK engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce - the Adour Mk871 engine powering the RAAF's Hawk 127 Lead-In Fighters is a joint product, as is the RTM322.
The two firms have a close relationship, say sources on both sides.
Adour assembly and in-service support was contracted to Qantas Defence Systems because at the time the Hawk program got under way Turbomeca lacked the local infrastructure to provide that support.
This is no longer the case: while Stewart Noel doesn't rule out providing support for non-Turbomeca engines, if there's an opportunity and if it makes business sense, Turbomeca Australasia's principal focus is on supporting the engines it manufactures and above all the customers who buy them.