Staff Magazine of Lufthansa Technik Group March 2015 manage/m® Component Services Engine and Component Services One round-trip ticket to Bangkok please! Total Component Support for Thomas Cook Extensive partnership with Honeywell manage/m® customer training for Nok Air in Thailand. Six-year TCS® contract for supporting the four carriers of the airline group. Capability enhancement for the entire Honeywell component range and overhaul of A350 APU. > > > more more more Intellectual Property Management VIP & Executive Jet Solutions Innovation and research A strong patent “VIP market will recover” My friend, the robot Patience has been rewarded: After years of struggle, the US patent for GuideU has finally been awarded. Walter Heerdt, Senior Vice President VIP & Executive Jet Solutions, on the completion market. Securing competitiveness with automation solutions. .> more > more > more Published by: Lufthansa Technik AG, Corporate Communications, Bernd Habbel HAM TV/I, Weg beim Jäger 193, 22335 Hamburg, Germany, Phone: +49-40-5070-3667, Fax: +49-40-5070-8534, E-mail: techniknews@lht. dlh.de, Editor: Christopher Hess, Design/Technical Implementation: Jespersen Communication 1 | Lufthansa Technik NEWS | March 2015 manage/m® Ameco Beijing Lufthansa LEOS One round-trip ticket to Bangkok please! Cabin modification for China Eastern Airlines TaxiBot used in real operations In February, Ameco started overhauling and repairing the PW4000 engines powering six Boeing 767 from Shanghai Airlines. The cabin modification will be completed by the end of June. After extensive testing the innovative towbar-less tractor is used at Frankfurt airport. Following approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Lufthansa LEOS has commenced operations with the innovative TaxiBot aircraft tractor, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with Lufthansa LEOS’ extensive support and cooperation. manage/m® customer training for Nok Air. Scarcely back from his previous customer visit, it was time for manage/m® product Manager Michael Weidemann to pack his bags once more. This time for a week to his next customer – Nok Air in Thailand. Following expansion of Nok Air’s fleet with the inclusion of another aircraft type, the Thai lowcost carrier’s workforce has expanded accordingly. The two new Q400 type aircraft will be handled for the first time as a new fleet with manage/m® as previously was the case with the Boeing 737NG and ATR72. It was therefore important to explain the manage/m® processes, the procedures involved and the operation of the system to the customer. Employees from engineering, planning and quality management in particular took part in the training from the customer’s side. In good spirits in front of a shiny aircraft: Michael Weidemann (5th from right) and Cengiz Armutlu (6th from right) at Bangkok Don Mueang Airport with course participants from Nok Air. Photo: private Nok Air has since concluded a TOM agreement (Technical Operations Management) with Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International, which among other things provides for the presence of a Fleet Manager locally with the customer. And this role now has a new name to go with it: Cengiz Armutlu has been ensuring the smooth implementation of technical operations processes for the customer in Bangkok since November and was also actively involved in the manage/m® training. Weidemann again used this opportunity to provide the customer with some impromptu tips and tricks regarding system handling and to present new functions from the manage/m® world. “Among other things, I introduced the customer to our new Customer Work Instruction, which can be used to create personalized job tickets. Cengiz Armutlu and I explained in detail how this function can be adapted to the Nok Air processes. The customer was very impressed.” The customer’s enthusiasm for manage/m® and Lufthansa Technik has also been further strengthened by Weidemann’s visit: “This is one reason why we maintain close contact with our customers and also take on such long journeys. Personal interaction is extremely important, especially when it comes to IT support, and will remain a top priority for us in the future.” Jamila Jadran, LHT China Eastern Airlines has selected Ameco Beijing to provide cabin modification of its Boeing 767 fleet. The 767 fleet belongs to Shanghai Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Eastern. Ameco finished a cabin modification of a Boeing 767 belonging to Shanghai Airlines in January. Further cabin modifications are scheduled from April to June. The deal covers cabin refurbishment and business class modification, the latter including engineering design, airworthiness certificate and interior material package manufacture. Yao Ran, Ameco (Photo: Li Kayan) A Chinese word “Fu” brings happiness to you From left to right: Bert Gochermann, Executive Director of Human Resource Division, Geidel Ullrich, Executive Director of Finance Division, and Dr. Hans Jürgen Loss, Executive Director of Operation Division. On February 19, Ameco Beijing’s staff celebrated the traditional Chinese New Year festival in a special way. Just a couple of days before the Chinese Spring Festival, Ameco staff wrote the Chinese word “Fu” – 福, meaning good fortune, on the red paper in the form of calligraphy and send them to the colleagues, friends, and family members as best wishes. In China, it is a folk custom that most of the families stick the word “Fu” onto the doors, and it means the good luck and happiness will come all over the year. “Fu” will bless people with health, joy, and harmony. Yao Ran, Ameco (Photo: Li Kayan) At a media event held at Frankfurt Airport on 19 February, the TaxiBot’s towing procedures were demonstrated for local and international journalists, while taxiing a Lufthansa Boeing 737 to the take-off position. Photo: Jürgen Mai TaxiBot (NB) is a towbar-less 800-hp strong hybrid-electric aircraft tractor, controlled by the pilot and intended for towing aircraft between the gate and the runway with the aircraft’s engines turned-off. After extensive testing, the TaxiBot is now being used in real flight operations at Frankfurt Airport. A special nose wheel cradle in the TaxiBot registers all the steering movements and transfers these to navigate the tractor’s eight wheels. This enables the pilot to steer the tractor from the cockpit using “Pilot Control Mode” after pushing back from the gate, until it is released at the runway. The aircraft engines are not required to start up until the TaxiBot is separated from the aircraft. Accordingly, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Lufthansa LEOS and IAI for widebody aircraft certification testing. The test phase will be performed using a Boeing 747-400 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. ed. 2 | Lufthansa Technik NEWS | March 2015 Personalities Component Services Total Component Support for Thomas Cook Andreas Sauer Thomas Schröder Dr. Axel Kerner Seven Domke Six-year TCS® contract for supporting the four carriers of the airline group. Andreas Sauer was appointed Managing Director of Lufthansa Technik Intercoat in Kaltenkirchen on February 1. Prior to this, Andreas Sauer was Managing Director of H&K Dienstleistungsgesellschaft im Gesundheitswesen mbH and General Manager of Global Service at PENTAX Europe GmbH. Thomas Schröder took on the role of interest group representative for national and international organizations on February 1. Dr. Axel Kerner has been responsible for the “GAP” (Growth Acceleration Program) project since February 2. Seven Domke was appointed to the role of Project Manager for “Special Logistic Projects” at Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services effective March 1. He will be succeeded as Head of Customer Logistics by Dr. Rüdiger Höben-Störmer. Andre Schulte-Bisping was appointed Head of Business Development in the Base Maintenance Dr. Rüdiger Andre Höben-Störmer Schulte-Bisping division as of March 1. ed. New concept for success and learning processes Ameco Beijing Asia: Pilot area for new roles in sales Debut for engine PBH services A Corporate Key Account Manager has been responsible for looking after particularly important customers at Lufthansa Technik since January 1 together with an interdisciplinary team. So how does this work in practice? The Asia/Pacific sales region is the pilot area for the new concept and is also already the most advanced in terms of implementation. The Corporate Key Account Teams as they are known are a core element of the WE GROW growth project. “Three Key Account Managers each support two customers here in Asia,” explains Gerald Steinhoff, who heads up the Asia/Pacific sales region. One of the biggest challenges has been and continues to be handing over responsibilities during operation without the customer experiencing any negative side effects. This is also the reason why no responsibilities were reassigned while projects were still underway. “For me, the new concept makes the transformation at Lufthansa Ameco signed an engine power-by-the-Hour (PBH) contract with Shanghai Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines. Based on the contract, Ameco will provide engine overhaul, repair and other value-added services on 14 PW4000s powering six Boeing 767s of Shanghai Airlines. This is the first time for Ameco to provide engine services under a PBH model. Ameco and China Eastern Airlines have been cooperating for many years by providing mutual services. “China Eastern Airlines is one of our most important and closest partners since the start-up of our company. The powerby-the-hour model is an innovation for our cooperation and it is also a trust of our customer to our maintenance capability,” said Zhuxiao, Ameco’s executive director of Sales and Supply. Zhang Na, Ameco Lufthansa Technik will provide a Total Component Support TCS® for the Airbus A320 and A330 fleet of the four airlines of Thomas Cook Group plc, one of the world’s leading leisure travel groups. The contract has started in February 2015 and will run over a period of six years. It also comprises the support of 25 new Airbus A321 aircraft which will be delivered to Thomas Cook Group Airlines within 2013 to 2016. The contract covers services for the four Thomas Cook subfleets, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium, Thomas Cook Airlines United Kingdom, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and Condor in Germany. The TCS® comprises component repair and overhaul services as well as material pooling, transportation services and home base sup- The components for the A321 and A330 fleets of the four airlines will be repaired in the Lufthansa Technik shops in Hamburg and Frankfurt. Photo: Michael Penner port in Brussels, Manchester, London Gatwick, Copenhagen and Berlin-Schönefeld. Lufthansa Technik will provide technical support via its international network, whereas the component repair will take place at the Lufthansa Technik sites in Hamburg and Frankfurt. ed. Sales Technik really tangible. We find the new responsibilities less of a challenge than, on one hand, mustering the will to part from customers we have supported for many years and devoting all our energies to developing new potential. On the other hand, however, the existing good personal contact with the customer should continue to be nurtured,” says Steinhoff. The verdict on the new role concept seems to Steinhoff to be largely positive: “Our customers already feel that we are making important decisions faster than before.” An initial meeting of the three Corporate Key Account Managers will take place in Asia in March. A platform for exchanging experiences four times a year will be established for the wider region in the future. Kai Raudzus, LHT » Divisions » Corporate Sales & Marketing TS » Departments » TS/W WE GROW @ 3 | Lufthansa Technik NEWS | March 2015 Engine and Component Services Extensive partnership with Honeywell Capability enhancement for the entire Honeywell component range and overhaul of A350 APU. With a 25 percent share of the component range and as the only manufacturer of the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for the A350, Honeywell is by far the largest and most important original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for this future type. The intention of the cooperation is to develop capability both for the complete Honeywell component range as well as for the HGT1700 APU in the new Airbus A350 as quickly as possible. “As a result of the cooperation, we are embracing technologies that would not have been economical without the utilization by Honeywell, for example the Supplemental Cooling Systems (SCS),” says Michael Scheferhoff, Head of Mechanical Equipment about the cooperation with Honeywell. Tim Mahoney (sitting, left), Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell, and August Wilhelm Henningsen, CEO of Lufthansa Technik, shake hands at the signing ceremony. Photo: Sonja Brüggemann Because all MRO services for the HGT1700 are being provided in the APU Shop in Hamburg, this means a significant increase in numbers and hourly volumes for the APU business unit. “This represents both an opportunity and a challenge for our small unit. The program has the potential to multiply the current APU in-house business and is therefore worth every effort,” says Matthias Berg, Honeywell APU Program Manager in the APU Services business unit. Furthermore, Lufthansa Technik is responsible – in close cooperation with the OEM – for the engineering and development of repair processes. Like airline customers from all around the globe, Honeywell components and APUs will also be repaired in the future at Lufthansa Technik. Airbus already has some 800 orders for the A350, including 25 aircraft that are to be used starting in 2016 by the Lufthansa Passenger Airline. Lufthansa Technik has already received numerous orders from future A350 operators and is currently in negotiations with others. Intensive sales activities should secure success in this large potential market. Astrid Heinel/Silke von Estorff, LHT Engine Services Master plan 2015: “Let’s get started” Being proud of his staff, Bernhard KrügerSprengel explains the joint goal: “We are the number one for engine MRO after the OEMs.” The product division is well-positioned with the new business model. Now it is tackling new challenges. A lot has been achieved in Engine Services since 2011. Costs have been successfully reduced by 20 percent and capacity utilization increased from 220 engine overhauls in 2012 to 262 last year. More than 85 percent of the division’s orders for overhauls in 2014 came from external customers. Engine Services is growing again. Technik NEWS spoke about this to Bernhard Krüger-Sprengel, Senior Vice President Engine Services. So is the new business model proving itself? The new structure works. Thanks to the newly established centers – Engine Disassembly, Assembly and Testing (DAT), Engine Parts (EPAR) as well as Engine Management Services (OVH) – the Engine Services division is successfully positioned to attract new orders in a market that looks set to be dominated in the future by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In addition to new contracts with Aerolíneas Argentinas, Air Canada, Air Tahiti, VietJet and SAA, we have also performed overhauls for the first time directly for the engine manufacturer General Electric (GE). What developments do you foresee in the engine maintenance market? Where do we need to act? Management and staff discuss the focal points of the master plan. Apart from traditional customers, i.e. airlines, OEMs will become increasingly important for us in the future. They are currently developing their overhaul networks for the engine generation of the next 30 years. Only a handful of suppliers will make it into these networks. We have a good opportunity to gain a foothold with GE and the other two major OEMs (Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce) in 2015 in the same way as we have already reached agreement with Honeywell. We will get to work in April as the first and only shop worldwide for the A350 APU. Creative ideas, innovative technologies and know-how are essential prerequisites to prevailing in the OEM network in the future. Pressure on costs and differentiation demands the best ideas and new processes and at the same time strict cost optimization. What are the next steps for the division? What’s in the master plan? Manufacturers have very precise expectations: One hundred percent fulfillment of requirements, nothing less, is demanded. The processes in the workshops have to be adapted to the OEM requirements. This will be challenging for all of us – both in terms of EPAR repairs as well as in the DAT Shops. We have to further extend the range of additional services we offer on the market. We have made a good start together with Rolls-Royce with Mature Engine Management (optimization of engine costs for mature engine types). Pratt & Whitney and General Electric are yet to come. Our objective for 2015 is to gain a foothold with GEnx with the new engine types in addition to GE90 with Quick Turns (specific intervention). The worldwide Airline Support Team network (AST®) is to be further enhanced in Montreal and Shenzhen with the AST® stations and proven skills extended to the new engine types. How can we continue to prevail as a leading provider? Competition remains tough – we have to reduce our costs further for the current types. We also have to achieve the best possible mix of used, overhauled and new parts especially in the area of materials. Silke von Estorff, LHT (Photos: Sonja Brüggemann) 4 | Lufthansa Technik NEWS | March 2015 Marketing and Sales VIP & Executive Jet Solutions Marketing conference in Hamburg “VIP market will recover” The desire for a strong brand and customized marketing communication based on good international cooperation – this is primarily what united the more than 30 participants at Lufthansa Technik Group’s second marketing conference in Hamburg. At the invitation of André Fischer, Head of Corporate Marketing & Sales Management, the representatives of the newly founded marketing group met with their marketing counterparts from the business units and subsidiaries. In addition to sharing information on corporate strategy and current projects, a wealth of ideas were developed in workshops on how to address the different target groups in Lufthansa Technik and their needs even more successfully in the future. Greater consideration of local and regional idiosyncrasies through all marketing activities was a focal point of the discussion. Some of the ideas developed at the conference will now be followed up in marketing. Kai Raudzus, LHT Component Services Contract extension for Wamos Air Spanish charter airline Wamos Air and Lufthansa Technik have extended their existing cooperation. Since 2003 Lufthansa Technik is providing a Total Component Support TCS® for the Boeing 747 fleet of Spain’s third largest long-range airline. On the occasion of the integration of a fifth 747-400 into the contract, the agreement was recently extended for further two years. The Total Component Support TCS® agreement covers component repair and overhaul services as well as pooling at Wamos Air’s main base in Madrid. ed. (Photo: Wamos Air) Walter Heerdt, Senior Vice President VIP & Executive Jet Solutions, on the one-of-a-kind completion business, the buyer’s market and cost reductions. The hangars and workshops in the VIP & Executive Jet Solutions division are still full. But predictions for the near future no longer seem as promising, right? That is correct. Apart from the retrofit layover of the long-haul fleet, to date we only have one additional 747-8 as a follow-up project in the area of completion. VIP business is not immune to financial and political crises, especially in growth markets and otherwise traditionally strong markets. So the market therefore looks completely different today than it did a few years ago? Depending on the way you look at it, there are some 13 widebody lines in existence at present worldwide, which at standard market turnaround times would be able to equip between seven and nine widebodies. Two widebody contracts were awarded in 2014, the largest of which we were able to secure for ourselves. Unfortunately the situation with narrowbody business looks somewhat similar. The expectations for 787 completions have dampened significantly. But the VIP market was always cyclical and will recover. As head of sales you have been active in promoting the WE GROW project. Are there changes to your new division resulting from this project? The things we have to change in general for sales apply to the same degree for our business. Apart from strengthening competi- tiveness, we have to engage more actively in the markets and position ourselves accordingly for this. This relates to better regional presence, cooperation with Product Sales and the sales units in the subsidiaries and establishment of corporate key accounts. 2014 will presumably go down in history as the year of the special mission aircraft. This should surely also serve as proof of the quality product offered by Lufthansa Technik? We really had a very good year in the VIP Maintenance Business Unit. The result: On-time performance and customer satisfaction are all at a high level. Yet we must keep working on our competitiveness. We are shortlisted for most tenders, but are rarely on the top step of the podium. The second place finisher is ultimately the first loser. Why is Lufthansa Technik often too expensive these days in the VIP segment? We need to fully differentiate here in terms of the reasons. Because of the complicated and very heavily fragmented processes in the area of completion, the number of man hours required for the projects has risen sharply. This is impacting administration to an increasing extent, such as for example engineering processes. We have to change this. Our intention is to reduce our costs by 40 percent. How are you addressing this topic? We have launched the FIRST project. My focus is on cooperation and team spirit, with the objective of processing more projects faster and more efficiently with the existing staff capacity. The market will recover, and we want to remain at the forefront of the VIP and executive jet business. Bernd Habbel, LHT/ed. (Photo: Sonja Brüggemann) Landing Gear Services Gulf Air extends landing gear contract Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, and Lufthansa Technik have early extended their existing cooperation in landing gear overhaul for the airline’s Airbus A320, A321 and A330 fleet. The new contract, which commenced in February 2015, will end in December 2020. The contract comprises landing gear overhaul and exchange for complete shipsets. The overhaul work will be executed at the Lufthansa Technik landing gear shop in Hamburg, Germany. Lufthansa Technik first entered into a landing gear agreement with Gulf Air in 2011 and has performed ten overhaul events in total, to date. ed. 5 | Lufthansa Technik NEWS | March 2015 Intellectual Property Management A strong patent Patience has been rewarded: After years of struggle, the US patent for GuideU has finally been awarded. Lufthansa Technik has now received the US patent for its “silicone matrix” in GuideU. This comes after the company filed for a patent for key features of GuideU in 2009 and received the German and European patent some two years later. Silicone matrix has already been used as standard in GuideU products on the market since 2013. GuideU is the next phase in the development of Guideline®, the maintenance-free emergency-exit marking system, which shows crew and passengers the way to the aircraft’s exits in an emergency situation. In addition to a wider choice of colors with the same high luminosity, GuideU is lighter than its tried and tested predecessor Guideline® and the profile can be supplied with any curvature compared with the formerly straight profile. GuideU is also completely moisture-resistant and flatter as well as impact- and scratch-resistant, which means that it can be used for both textile areas and wet areas. “The silicone matrix was a critical invention for successfully achieving these properties,” says Wolfgang Sutter, Development Engineer and Product Manager for GuideU. “We received European patent protection quite early on for our product’’ innovations, but continuous rejections of our US patent application for the silicone matrix demanded strong argumentation on our part as well as strategic changes to the protection claims,” continues Wolfgang Sutter. A patent is known to only ever be issued if an invention is not only new but also innovative. Specific tests were carried out and documented in the The US patent for the “silicone matrix” in GuideU comes after Lufthansa Technik has received the German and European patent already a few years ago. 20 colours allow the GuideU non-electric floor path marking system to fit any cabin floor design. course of the process to emphasize and define the innovations more clearly in a bid to convince the US examiners of the inventive activity. “Our remonstrations finally succeeded in the last response to official communications: The luminosity required for emergency-exit markings in aircraft can only be achieved with the special material properties of our silicone matrix,” says patent attorney Rico Kolossa. “Because of the vast amount of time and effort we had to invest, it was all the more gratifying for us to receive such a strong patent for GuideU some five years down the road.” The US patent granted has a very broad protection scope and is therefore very difficult to circumvent. The US patent can now be maintained until 2029. Rico Kolossa (right) and Wolfgang Sutter with certificate. Susi Debus (Photos: Sonja Brüggemann,Matthias Liebich) GuideU is lighter than its tried and tested predecessor and the profile can be supplied with any curvature. GuideU shows crew and passengers the way to the aircraft’s exits in an emergency situation. 6 | Lufthansa Technik NEWS | March 2015 The laser welding machine allows complex welding processes, thus opening up new fields of application in the repair process of engine parts. Innovation and research My friend, the robot Florian Kloth examines samples in the electroplating shop. The automated analysis of galvanization baths improves quality assurance and contributes to a reduced workload. Securing competitiveness with automation solutions Already in its second generation, the workscoping robot joins different measuring tasks, which had to be done manually before, into an automated entire process. What once seemed unimaginable is almost taken for granted in many fields today: robots and people are no longer competitors but work side by side in many companies. Their roles are clearly defined, with people leading and robots providing assistance and relief while ensuring lasting and consistent quality at high levels of productivity. “Not only do our robots and other automation processes help us become more productive and efficient than before, but this way many of our employees are relieved from physically demanding and monotonous work,” said Gerrit Rexhausen, “Auto-Pro+” project leader. In order to better evaluate the potential of selected automation processes in the aviation industry, and to do so independently of the product divisions (PD), Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg is participating in the “Auto-Pro” aviation research program. The objective of the platform-based overall project is to evaluate the potential for selected automation processes and to verify it in two prototype applications. The cooperative project is intended to generate efficient automation solutions and to promote the exchange of expertise among the project partners in the city of Hamburg. The project is divided into three complementary sub-projects that differ in terms of both their concepts and their technologies; each is carried out by different project partners. The purpose of the comprehensive “Auto-Pro+” sub-project is to evaluate the potential of future automation solutions at Lufthansa Technik by determining exactly where the greatest benefits are and what can lead to further automation of the processes. The sub-project’s results will serve as a reliable basis for the evaluation of all automation projects. The partners are Lufthansa Technik, the Zentrum für Angewandte Luftfahrtforschung (ZAL, Center for Applied Aeronautical Research), which is also the coordinator for the overall Auto-Pro project, and the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. In the “Auto-Pro I” sub-project run by Lufthansa Technik and the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, the “MORFI” robot demonstrator is to undergo further refinement. To this end, a process analysis and an evaluation of maintenance for commercial aircraft were performed with the objective of ascertaining how well they could be automated using a mobile robot. The PD-independent evaluation of known and future processes allows a better assessment of their suitability for automation as well as a more exact calculation of possible cost reductions and sales growth. “Building on the results of the ‘Auto-Pro+’ sub-project, in the future we want to generate even more high-potential implementation projects with double-digit project efficiency increases that will materially contribute to our savings targets,” said Gerrit Rexhausen. Susi Debus (Photos: Sonja Brüggemann)
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