06/01/2011: The Shifting Strategic Environment: A New Approach to Airlift and Tanking The United States has inherited and chosen to pursue the specialized aircraft route to airlift and tanking; Airbus Military has chosen a multi-mission path to providing for airlift and tanking capabilities for its customers. When the DOD chose the…
By Richard McCormack Originally published in Manufacturing News, April 29, 2011 05/16/2011 - The strategy embraced over the past decade by U.S. manufacturing companies to shift production to countries with cheap labor may no longer be appropriate, according to a consulting firm that has been a big promoter of offshore…
05/03/2011 - Following the interview with Alain Rolland, where the Senior VP outlined the core approach of Eurocopter in shaping its approach to manufacturing for sustainability, SLD visited the factory to view some concrete examples of the approach.Pierre Maret, the head of the Development Center for Excellence, focused on the…
04/27/2011 - In late March 2011, prior to the christening of the LPD-24 at the Ingalls Shipyards in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Second Line of Defense interviewed the LPD 17 program manager, Doug Lounsberry. Lounsberry provided an overview to the challenges of building this class of ship and the advantages, which the…
The Political Silly Season has now entered into an AF source selection By Ed Timperlake 04/21/2011 - One of the strangest arguments ever made about competing aircraft in a source selection was recently made in an article in The Hill. The general vice president of the International Association of Machinists…
Manufacturing for Sustainability: The Eurocopter Approach 04/09/2011- During the SLD visit to the Eurocopter manufacturing facility in February 2011, SLD sat down with Alain Rolland, Senior Vice President, Center of Excellence Dynamics. Rolland has had wide-ranging experience within Eurocopter, including Super Puma program director, director for all Eurocopter commercial programs,…
Visiting the Dauphin Final Assembly Line: An Interview with Michel Guichard 04/09/2011 - During the SLD visit in February 2011 to the Eurocopter facilities in France, a tour was conducted of the new Dauphin Final Assembly Line (FAL). The tour and interview was conducted with Michel Guichard, the Deputy Director…
Eurocopter Star Flex Technology: Building Rotor Hubs for Light and Medium Lift Helicopters 04/09/2011 - During the SLD visit in February 2011 to Eurocopter, Xavier Philippot, Head of the Star Flex Process, provided a tour of the composite facility where the main rotor heads or hubs are built for the…
