D.O.M. Maintenance Management Blog

Here is a scenario that we seem to see all of the time. Honeywell 331 customers have run into

massive part delay issues. In a playbook taken from the not so smooth Boeing 787 Dreamliner project,

Honeywell has decided to start outsourcing its engine parts from various overseas suppliers. Reports state that the

331 parts are coming from possibly Mexico, the Czech Republic, and India.  Hindustan Aeronautics has been license

building the TPE331 engines for some time, and started to supply Honeywell globally in 2008. It is no suprise that

these items are being outsourced. But if outsourcing is so muchmore profitable, then why cant they stock these more

profitable parts on the shelf? I seem to see a trend with outsourcing. That trend seems to include lower

customer service, higher customer acqusition costs (becuase of express freight), lower customer profitability

(becuase their aircraft an unable to fly) and a significantly higher level of customer disatisfaction.

This process doesnt seem to be working very well, does it?

Sometimes as a distributor, I see other competitors that do things that are just plain wrong. Normally, i can keep quiet. After hearing customers complain about what another distributor has been doing to them, I decided it was time to at least make DOM's aware of a special situation. There is a very large aircraft parts distributor who has been overhauling Cleveland King Air High Float brakes in their own shop (Part Number 30-162), instead of Cleveland's own repair station. While this practice would be normally fine, they have been engaged in a bait and switch technique that has bitten a least six or seven maintenance shops that I know of. What they are doing, is quoting an overhaul exchange price that is roughly $800 less than a factory overhaul. Then 2-3 months later, the customer receives a bill ( almost in every case) for $1,000 to 1,250 per each returned brake core.  What they are doing, in reality, is billing you back on the brake housing. This housing is very expensive, and is routinely replaced due to corrosion. We have chosen to send all of the Cleveland 30-162 brakes through Cleveland, because of their flat rate exchange policy. Cleveland is aware that the corrosion may occur, particularly on old brakes, so they have made sure to address this during overhaul.

Big manufacturers don’t care about AOG’s.

Some things never change. You would think that in this economy, manufacturers would relish every opportunity to move their product. You would think that their customer service would improve, or yet be adequate.  But as usual, this is not the case. Today I called a very large aerospace “conglomerate” with an AOG for a U.S. military aircraft part. Surprisingly, they had the item in stock. But what followed next is the sad malaise that most of my fellow distributors experience. I reasoned that in an AOG situation, with a tail number and aircraft serial, surely this manufacturer would ship this item today.  I also reasoned that this manufacturer would put forth a minimum effort to expedite this item, especially since it was for an AOG U.S. military aircraft.  I was told that they could not ship the product for three days. When I pressed them with a DOD contract number, they bluntly told me that AOG’s aren’t expedited any sooner than three days. The request could be an AOG for an air ambulance or a U.S. military aircraft, neither really mattered to their customer service team!