Overhauling the overhaul

2024 saw Airbus Helicopters’ facility in Grand Prairie, Texas certify a new multi-purpose test bench for dynamic component repair (DCR), the latest step to improve customer service and reduce waiting times. Vice President Customer Support & Services in North America Niko Szodruch and Senior Manager Dynamic Component MRO Sebastien Mathiot talk about the journey so far and the next steps.

DCR focuses on repairing components between the helicopter engine and blades, such as the main and tail rotor gearboxes and shafts that enable the helicopter to fly. Without them, the helicopter isn’t going anywhere. With them, even if the engine fails, the components allow for a safe landing. Getting these parts back to customers in a timely manner is a crucial task and improvements remain a key priority.

Chain and gain

At the Grand Prairie workshop, approximately 1,000 components are received annually, with 80% being scheduled overhauls and 20% unscheduled repairs. About 200 are major components (main gearboxes). Airbus Helicopters defines specific turnaround times to complete these jobs, but according to Sebasthien Mathiot, “delays sometimes occur due to supply chain strains, the additional workload that comes with increased activity, particularly from military programmes, and the rapid expansion of the team and facilities which has required significant organisational change.“

Getting bigger, staying lean

Mathiot has the task of turning around the turning around times through restructuring to enhance efficiency. There has been the introduction of specialised roles, supervisors, and the strengthening of the Quality Assurance team to improve efficiency and training. Recruitment has been a priority with the team tripling in size over four years. The physical workspace has been expanded by approximately 50%. Investment in both Visual Dimensional Inspection (VDI) and Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) areas has resulted in improvements, with the NDI line now considered a state-of-the-art worldwide benchmark. Digitisation and modernisation have been at the heart of the changes, delivering many improvements including bringing more reliability and transparency to information sharing with customers.

The latest enhancement is the DCR test bench which was fully qualified and certified at the end of 2024. “At the end of the DCR process, we perform a full load test,” emphasises Mathiot. “We install the dynamic component on a huge machine that mimics it being on a helicopter. We monitor the torque, power, vibrations, flow, temperature, and then we know it's ready to be reinstalled. The test bench will help us handle a much larger workload because it is qualified for every big component. We are already using it to test the main gearboxes of the H135, the AS365, the H145 and it's even ready for the H160 which will come in the next few years.”

More to come

While improvements have already been achieved with 25% faster TATS for large components and more than 45% faster TATs for small components, Niko Szodruch recognises that for customers waiting on key components, improvements can never go far enough. “Yes, we see that TATs have gone down significantly on average, but improving major components remains a priority. The changes are still scaling up, and they will help us get to where we want and need to be.”

More investment is planned. A three-axis milling machine and computerised numerically controlled machining centre will facilitate the repair of more parts on site, reducing reliance on external machine shops, while digitisation will increase. As Szodruch underlines, “this transformation has taken incredible collaboration between many teams. Every single initiative is a brick to build a huge project to overhaul, become better and more efficient.”