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Article & Photos Supplied to
CNC West Magazine
That really requires clarification: The Bell Helicopter Drive Systems Center (DSC) in Arlington, TX, can never be confused with
anything “little”. It’s a huge facility, filled with the best and latest technology and equipment (milling, drilling, boring), gear manufacturing and roughly 600 cracker jack machinists, programmers, operators, engineers and technicians. Where DSC does resemble a small job shop is in its agility, flexibility and responsiveness, a unique ability to always find a better way, always on the fly. It is one great wheel of tools and teams spinning ferociously, pumping out safety-critical product in ever-shorter cycle times, while constantly reinventing itself. In Texas, there may be speed limits, but at Bell nothing’s slowing down
According to Mark Rudeseal, vice president, Drive Systems Center, Bell Helicopter (a Textron company) the last four years DSC has been under siege. When the government said they’d finally made a decision — the V-22 Osprey twin tiltrotor aircraft has been given the green light, the Marine Corps has committed to a four-year program — DSC was already a year behind on capacity. A snapshot of the last two years . . . a blur of tools, technology and teams playing serious catch-up.
ALL OF
50 www.CNC-West.com
CNC WEST August/September 2020
THE BEST LITTLE (SIC)
JOB SHOP
IN
TEXAS
SO MUCH FOR THE PLAN
Manufacturing organizations like to have a smooth, primarily linear plan that looks ahead at least a couple of years. Sudden revolving, steep curves and quick ups and downs tend to twist and turn inside out even the best of plans . . . into just so much chaos. But that’s part of the art of managing a manufacturing plant. When the world changes, it doesn’t change five years out, so everyone can say, Oh, look at that dramatic change ahead! No, such dramatic change happens close in, and if you aren’t agile, flexible and quick, you’re going to get stuck, and you’re going to get hurt.
Rudeseal explains the chaos. When the demand for V-22 suddenly (with little forewarning) surged in demand, requiring immediate response, the balance of work in DSC had already been in flux. Output for commercial aircraft had begun to shake — not because the demand for Bell helicopters fell (orders were in fact high, but so too were cancellations).
“We had all of the year sold out,” Rudeseal recalls, “but then customers began saying, ‘We really need the helicopter, but we can’t get financing’. Customers wanted to buy but couldn’t find backing capital. So, we had quite a few customers who walked away at the last minute,