Airbus Helicopters has undertaken a broad effort to improve its traditionally market-lagging product and customer support, both in North America and globally, the company recently told AIN.

Since taking over as Airbus Helicopters president and CEO in 2013, Guillaume Faury has pledged that the company will work to raise its customer support satisfaction to industry-leading levels. As part of this broad transformation plan, Airbus Helicopters has instituted a number of company-wide initiatives to improve customer and product support. Worldwide, Airbus Helicopters increased its spare parts inventories by $40 million in 2014.

In the U.S., Airbus Helicopters Inc. (AHI), the U.S. division, has steadily increased the spare parts inventory at its Dallas/Fort Worth Logistics Center. The inventory value has grown from about $90 million in 2012 to nearly $105 million at the end of 2014 and will reach about $115 million by mid-2015. The cost of that investment in an expanded U.S. parts inventory is being born by AHI.

 “Here in the U.S. market we have strong, successful customers who demand higher standards,” said AHI CEO Marc Paganini. “They demand that we deliver parts on time and keep their helicopters flying. Those are the goals my team works toward every day. Our customers will accept no less.”

These new investments in service appear to be paying dividends. Company executives noted the following improvements in service-related metrics: on-time spare parts delivery rates (OTR) improved to about 90 percent by the end of 2014, a big improvement from 83 percent in 2013. Airbus Helicopters is aiming to hit the industry benchmark 95 percent by the end of 2015. Critical items on backorder were reduced 35 percent in 2014. The goal is zero critical items on backorder by year-end 2015. AHI now resolves 91 percent of AOG cases due to parts availability within 24 hours and is aiming for 100 percent. Customer technical support inquiries with AHI are closed in five days or less–most in a day or two–by the AHI regional tech reps and the staff based at AHI’s Grand Prairie, Texas campus. Most are resolved within a day or two. Tech reps are on call 24/7.

The company tracks key metrics, such as OTR, order fill rates and AOG on a daily basis. AHI data shows that U.S. Airbus commercial helicopter customers have an operational availability rate of better than 90 percent. AHI said it is working with operators to improve this number. It also noted its service record in supporting the U.S. Army’s fleet of 320 UH-72A Lakota (EC145 derivatives) has exceeded contractual requirements.

In addition to increasing inventories, AHI has made several process changes aimed at improving responsiveness, including setting up a dedicated customer support organization that assigns a customer service manager (CSM) to every customer. The CSM’s job is to make sure that customer issues are being addressed and to aid them in better anticipating and managing their spare-parts and service needs. CSMs also are now handling MRO quotes and scheduling. They are working with customers to learn how to use all of the management information capabilities that are built into the Airbus Helicopters Keycopter online system, which can be used to track and monitor aircraft performance and maintenance records for individual aircraft and entire fleets.

AHI is using Keycopter and customer records to gain better understanding of service issues and develop better predictive capabilities, thereby minimizing unscheduled maintenance. It also will provide operators guidance on how to fly to maximize operational availability.

 “The objective is to use the data we’re collecting from our operators to be able to better predict when parts need to be replaced,” said Peter Cutler, vice president of customer support for AHI. “The people who fly our helicopters want us to focus on two things: controlling their maintenance costs and [improving] their aircraft availability rates, and we’re doing that.”

 Some reduced direct maintenance costs (DMC) already have been achieved via product and process improvements. The DMC on the EC135 have decreased by $27 per hour and AHI thinks this trend will continue to other popular products including the AS350 line of singles and the EC145 twin.