NEWS OUTSIDE INSIDE M-D FILE PEOPLE HISTORY Economy, Customers & Competitors,Low cost carriers, a differentHappy market? birthday Messier-DowtyWelcome to Gloucester !CSD / CSM - Right at the heartThe Messier of the action… experimental aircraft Programmes, In short Developing Skills at Bidos .02 c o n t e n t 04 06 08 12 14 18 Ten years already! Without a doubt, 2004 was a year of relentless work rewarded with some great victories (A400M contract, first delivery of Falcon 7X landing gear system, our selection for Boeing 7E7 landing gear), to which we all contributed and 2005 promises to be just as good. It will be a pivotal year in many respects: > A year to hand over the torch - in 2005, Messier-Dowty welcomes its fourth Chief Executive Officer, Christian Knapp, who succeeds Tony Edwards, Dominique Paris and more recently, Louis Le Portz. > A year of historic importance - 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the Snecma and TI group joint-venture which lead to the creation of Messier-Dowty, the Global Landing gear Company. > A year of strategic importance - 2005 will be a year of achievements confirming our position as a global leader. Indeed, if the challenge in 2004 involved winning new programmes, the challenge in 2005 and the following years will involve delivering The One Team Editorial Committee: these programmes successfully, while at the same time satisfying our customers on all the other existing programmes. Top row, from left to right : Hervé Nachbaur, Stephan > A year of belonging - the merger between the Snecma group and the company Sagem heralds the arrival in 2005 of new Schwarz, Louise Simmonds; middle row, from left to shareholders, a new identity and of course new opportunities to challenge our competitors in the markets. right: Heidi Beal, Cécile Kaberry, Jeanette Stone; front row, from left to right: Florence Baumassy, Laurence So Happy Birthday Messier-Dowty and Happy New Year to one and all! It promises to be a very exciting and challenging year in Lysimaque, Anouk Rivard, Lynda Deliège. Were not which we all have a role to play. available for the picture: Tommy Fei, Peter Hall and Susan Lam. To open this year with a flourish, we propose to take you back over the past ten years and try to help you understand why low cost companies are so successful, show you some of our locations and activities and tell you about one of the ancestors of modern-day landing gear. We hope you enjoy reading this second issue of our One Team Mag! The Editorial Committee PAGE 03 . JANUARY 2005 . MESSIER-DOWTY MAGAZINE 03. PROGRAMMES > A380 JANUARY 18: official presentation of the plane in the presence of the French President Jacques Chirac and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. > A400M THE PROGRAMME has finally got an export customer: South Africa has just signed a declaration of intention for the purchase of 8 to 14 planes. AIRBUS has set up a working group to improve the plane’s mass balance; Messier-Dowty is contributing to this effort by proposing parts made of composite materials > 7E7 ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS has just placed an order for 15 planes with an option for 15 more. First ever participation of our Toronto site to the Snecma sailing challenge: (from left to right) Rob ORDERS for raw parts of landing gear will be placed at the end of January 2005. Crayford, Chris Bryant, Dave Thompson, Reena Katarya, Kyle Schmidt, Ron Stones, Bob Lascar A WORLD FIRST FOR MESSIER-DOWTY: to help Boeing reduce the plane’s basic January 18th : A380 reveal ceremony in Toulouse empty weight, Messier-Dowty is offering a sliding rod made of titanium for the main landing gear. Boeing’s decision is still to be confirmed however. > FALCON 7X THE FIRST PLANE will be released on 15 February and the first flight will take place a month later on 15 March. 04. IN SHORT MESSIER-DOWTY, together with its suppliers, is working hard to ensure that all the 01. ECONOMY tests authorising the first flight are conducted in good time. > LEAN • Lean Platform: a key stage in our effort to make improvements is the introduction > OIL, RAW MATERIALS, DOLLAR: THE TRIPLE WHAMMY! > RRJ at all sites, as from now, of a toolbox, bilingual training modules and the associated SUKHOI has changed its focus and wants a plane with a capacity of 90 passengers. simulations. Available on the M-D Intranet. Oil prices have finally gone down from over 50 dollars a barrel to about 40 dollars at the time even obliged to temporarily close a plant through lack of sheet metal! Ever increasing demand OUR TEAMS are working with the aircraft manufacturer on specifications and 4 people • Value chain mapping: a basic tool for diagnosing how an activity is really carried of writing this article. from China has only made the situation worse. from Messier-Dowty are permanently based in Moscow. out in the field and identifying improvements in order to hunt down wasteful As for the US Dollar, it is at an all-time low with one euro worth 1.35 dollars! With no central practices. In 2004, most sites used this tool for various fields and processes. Prices of other raw materials like steel, which is of particular interest to Messier-Dowty, have bank intending to intervene, the prospect of a euro-dollar parity of 1.5 is becoming more and • Pilot Project in Montreal - Lean Accounting: It is one of the cornerstone of all soared however. Despite the historic production record being broken this year (over one more likely. This is a source of concern for large industrial groups like Snecma who are successful Lean transformations. To better understand the advantages, a pilot billion tonnes), industry is facing a real shortage – the Japanese car manufacturer Nissan was mainly paid in dollars. project has been launched in Montreal. The results are being studied to decide whether to deploy it at other sites. > ACTION V 02. CUSTOMERS AND COMPETITORS • Programme Management: the Steering Committee is setting up a “Programme Management Unit” to follow through and support the implementation of best practices. > AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS • TDI: deployment of PDMV3 at Vélizy, Gloucester and Toronto. Deployment of Smarteam, the CATIA V5 data management tool, at all sites. THE A350 IS A SIGN OF OUTRIGHT WAR aircraft, the CSeries, which should have a capacity of between 110 and 135 passengers. This • GS&OP: successful implementation in August. Since then, regular process reviews new Bombardier family will be in direct competition with the Airbus A318 and the Boeing have lead to further improvements. BETWEEN AIRBUS AND BOEING B737-700: we can imagine that sales campaigns on this segment of the market are likely to be • EASA Quality: M-D SA and M-D Ltd obtained the Production and Repair Certification On 10 December 2004, Airbus received authorisation from its shareholders, EADS and BAE particularly arduous!! issued by the new official European Aeronautic Authority, EASA (European Aviation Systems to officially launch its new aircraft, the A350, a direct riposte to the Boeing 7E7. The Safety Agency.) A350, which will be motorised by a General Electric GENX engine, is not a totally new concept. Designed as an improved version of the long-range A330, it will use the technological advances EADS: THE MAKO LAUNCHING POSTPONED ONCE AGAIN of the A380. The new aircraft will be commissioned in 2010, two years after its rival. Given the lack of enthusiasm of European air forces who would prefer to renovate their > EVENTS present aircraft and keep them, EADS has decided to think about the matter for another year Therefore, as from 2009, each of the American aircraft manufacturer’s product lines will be Creativity 2004: before deciding whether to launch this new trainer aircraft. • 105 dossiers presented, 156 participants. This year the Messier- in direct competition with one of the European consortium’s aircraft. However, Airbus will be Dowty prize was won by Gloucester for the project: Landing gear overload the only manufacturer to offer companies super-jumbo A380, with 20% more capacity than the detection device. largest of Boeing’s aircraft. ........................................................................................................................................................ > AIRLINE COMPANIES • Snecma Open Days 2004: 750 participants, 80 of whom were from M-D. • And also: first inter-site forum on Maintenance at Montreal (Nov.); health and BOMBARDIER: GOING THROUGH A DIFFICULT PATCH TIDAL WAVE: ANOTHER BLOW FOR AIRLINES followed by the SARS epidemic in 2003. This year, just as accounts and traffic were starting to safety week at Montreal (Nov.); paintball at Vélizy (Oct.) The end of 2004 was particularly difficult for the Canadian aircraft manufacturer. Indeed, at Thanks to an increase in inter-regional traffic (+ 25.3%) and Europe-Asia traffic, Asian airline improve, the risk of attacks combined with an explosion in the price of kerosene have thrown the beginning of December it was announced that 2,200 jobs were to be axed as a result of net companies were in much better form than their European or American counterparts but the many companies into the red. When are things going to calm down? profits that were ten times lower than those of the previous year. A few days later Mr. Theillier, recent tidal wave that hit in the Pacific region will certainly affect the whole region’s tourist > SPORTS the CEO, handed in his notice because he did not agree with the family owners on the strategy industry. AIR FRANCE – KLM: THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT PULLS OUT • This year, the 5th Snecma Sailing Regatta reunited 52 boats representing to adopt. The sector has been going through a great deal of turbulence ever since the attacks in the At the beginning of December, the French government sold off 17.7% of its share in Air 15 companies of the Group, 30 sites and 353 participants.