Bell Helicopter’s commercial division knows as well as anyone about the challenge of making a living in a stagnant industry that appears unlikely to grow beyond generally accepted delivery projections of 400 to 500 helicopters a year. For years the only real avenue to sales growth lay in scratching for more market share–a circumstance unlikely to change in the near future. Constantly maneuvering for a competitive edge, Bell spends much of its energy on lowering costs and collecting as much research and development money from outside sources as possible. New projects such as its Modular Affordable Product Line (MAPL)–and indeed the very future of the company–depend on it.
A big part of the cost effort throughout the aerospace industry at large involves an accelerating trend toward lowering the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) directly involved with the OEMs, sending component design work to second-tier suppliers and handing responsibility for integrating those components to others down the supply chain. So far Bell has done well on that score. It now maintains relationships with about 700 suppliers, compared with the 1,500 typically associated with helicopter OEMs, according to the company’s manager of business development, Michel Legault.
