By all indications, the era of the “more electric” airplane suits Hamilton Sundstrand and its president, Dave Hess. Supplier of the entire primary power generation and virtually all of the power distribution on the Boeing 787 airliner, the Windsor Locks, Connecticut-based division of United Technologies (UTC) expects to generate $15 billion in revenue over the life of that one program. Given its similarly large role in such programs as the Airbus A380, Embraer 170/190, Bombardier Global Express and the Joint Strike Fighter, the competition might excuse Hess for feeling comfortable referring to Hamilton Sundstrand as the industry’s leading systems integrator.
Hess need only point to the company’s new $50 million test laboratory in Rockford, Illinois, as a tangible example of the company’s commitment to not only the 787 program, but to the very concept of systems integration. Operating as a so-called “virtual workspace” via high-speed data-links with Boeing and other Hamilton Sundstrand facilities, the lab had completed more than 1,500 hours of integration testing as of March 15 and will likely have accumulated more than 5,000 hours before the 787’s scheduled first flight in August.
