Steve Smith (left), chairman of Quest Worldwide, Derek Whitworth,VP Goodrich, and Nick Sanders, formerly with TRW, now CEO of CompAir, celebrate winning a prestigious award for the Goodrich transformation case from the Management Consulting Association

Nine out of 10 of European military aircraft and one in four of the world’s passenger aircraft use Goodrich engine controls. In October 2002, Goodrich bought the engine controls businesses from TRW for $1.5bn after a tussle with several other suitors. But the business wasn’t always so sought after. In 1997, Lucas Aerospace, as the company was then known, was failing to meet customer demands for service and new technology introduction, the rates of growth and improvement were too slow and the financial return was unsatisfactory. Lucas had a distinctly “British engineering” feel with its 22 plants operating independently, making good products but without fully understanding their customers’ needs.

A trusted partnership for change
A three-month survey of customers, suppliers and employees concluded that a wholesale shift in both culture and performance was required. Lucas Aerospace asked Quest Worldwide to help it become “the best aerospace company in the world”, initiating what became known as “a trusted partnership” with Quest, which has continued through TRW ownership to today’s relationship with Goodrich. The first step involved the whole company. Local management teams were presented with the survey results and given a series of two-day workshops to plan the implementation of their improvement objectives. Following the workshops, Quest arranged practical training and coaching to help staff learn how to be more customer-focused, how to think and act in process terms, how to make systematic improvement and how to use teamwork to make it all happen. There were early successes: the 324 employees at the Huyton plant in Liverpool generated £190,000 of savings in the first year, matched by £315,600 of savings made by the 519 employees at Hemel Hempstead. Teams were encouraged to make their own local improvements in a disciplined way: one example of many thousands was from a Montreal shop-floor team which, in their own time, re-designed a test rig, eliminating a complicated step to save hundreds of labour hours per year.

Lean techniques to produce real results in 30 days
Using up to 17 consultants to work within the company simultaneously in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, Quest ran fitness reviews at each plant and introduced lean practices through another wave of training, coaching and action. At the Marston Green facility in Birmingham, for example, lean techniques quickly reduced handling activities by 78% and non-value added by 52%. 1400 engineers and team leaders became “lean practitioners”, attacking process bottlenecks through “lean events” of multi-disciplinary teams, each committed to producing real results in 30 days. By May 1999 the business had been hailed as the industry’s “most improved” company by magazine Aviation Week.

Six Sigma to deliver $20m annual benefits
Acquisition by TRW in 1999 brought new thinking and new challenges. TRW’s preference for the Six Sigma improvement concept was adapted by Quest and, within a few months, Quest had a team of 15 “master black belts' available to help train and coach 50 “black belts” and 1,000 “green belts”. These Six Sigma specialists are charged with delivering around $20m of annual benefits. Thanks to the partnership with Quest, the business now has a suite of improvement tools ranging from advanced process design using Six Sigma to simple housekeeping checks at workforce level. Ideas are encouraged and best practice exchanged – some 20,000 ‘opportunities for improvement’ are submitted each year by employees and 80% are implemented. The results speak for themselves: from 1997 to 2001 sales increased 38%, margins improved fourfold and productivity jumped 20% year-on-year. New owner, Goodrich, is already sharing these best practices around the rest of its organisation. The overall result is a complete transformation from local focus to global competitiveness, where every person in the business has the skills and enthusiasm to make a real and sustained contribution to business success.

Quest Worldwide is a management consultancy specialising in practical
change management. Contact Steve Smith on:
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413047
or E-mail: steves@quest-worldwide.com