In the beginning there was an altimeter - Meggitt PLC

the US Marine’s main aircraft for moving
troops, went from production of up to 11
aircraft a year in 1998 to 42 in 2010. The
aircraft carries multiple composite and ice
protection products too. Boeing’s CH-47
helicopter is another example of the longlegged
programmes Skubina has targeted
and grown. The facility currently equips 37
of the heavy-lift helicopters with fuel tanks
each year, though this is expected to rise in
2014. Sikorsky’s Black Hawk US Army and
Sea Hawk US Navy upgrades have called
for all the facility’s products: fuel tanks,
interior cabins, composites, ice guards
and sealants. “With the war effort, these
aircraft are wearing out at six times the
peak time rate, “observes Skubina.
“The US government really needs them.
No one wants to walk around Afghanistan
and Iraq.”
Below: Sikorsky interior panel:
much effort and craftsmanship goes
into making an interior piece fit.
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REVIEW | WINTER 2010
Initially, things were tough. Two product
lines outclassed by new technology
had to be written off and shut down.
Sales of $50 million were almost cut in
half but 11 years in high tech electronics
for Boeing, Sikorsky and Bell had given
Skubina insights into the potential of the
MPC Rockmart business. He saw the
beginnings of industry consolidation and
could see how it could retain its position
by selling directly to its current customers
rather than moving down an increasingly
non-profitable pecking order. He saw a
dedicated employee base. He saw a highly
efficient labour rate. He saw capabilities
rather than product lines. And when
business developer Greg Williams alerted
him to Sikorsky’s interest in outsourcing
its composite interiors production, he saw
the glimmerings of a business model that
would enable the site to take a big leap
forward. Where some questioned MPC
Rockmart’s ability to capitalise on its skill
base rather than its product lines, Skubina
swept doubt away. “MPC Rockmart had
a great base in the fuel tank product line
so if you could expand that and develop
the others, you could reap operational
synergies from all three and provide a
highly competitive entry to an expanded
marketplace.” Skubina and team went on
to win the outsourcing bid for the Sikorsky
‘offload’ and over ten years created a
composites business from an ice protection
capability that amounts to 30%—and
growing—of its total output.
The seven-year interior composites
contracts with Sikorsky for all its
helicopters and Bell-Boeing for the V-22
ice guards provided the guarantees
needed to finance the first 50,000 square
foot phase of the brand new composites
facility, with Meggitt funding the addition
That’s one big business
created from four
small independently
operating entities, with
the collective talent
of all of them at the
customer’s disposal
Left: Spinner side panel for the
V-22 tilt rotor, the US Marine’s
main troop helicopter. This went
from production of up to 11 aircraft
a year in 1998 to 42 a year in 2010.
of 76,000 square feet when it acquired the
site in 2008. “We saw the V-22 and UA60
upgrades expanding very significantly and
our customers were encouraging us to
invest. When we showed them the space,
they could just see their products going in
there. It really was a case of if you build it,
they will come.”
We are creating a powerful
design and manufacturing
capability from
conventional to cutting
edge, from component
to system, from regional
to international—with
multiple currency options
With the growth in MPC Rockmart’s
critical mass, Skubina is eyeing up
bigger programmes. He explains:
“It is very difficult for customers to get, say,
five $20 million companies to take on big
projects but if you have one $140 million
company with the size and critical mass
to invest in programme management and
all the support structure and functions
necessary to go into these bigger projects,
then you are in business. That is the next
phase we are evolving into.”
The bigger projects are defined by
what Skubina describes as ‘higher assembly’
production. This means fuel tanks to fuel
systems and ice guards to complex composite
structures for mainframes. On composite
interiors, MPC Rockmart is already adding
value with design and development, not just
building to print. (See Blade runner, page 34
and Under Sikorsky’s skin, page 38). >