4/5/2013 1:03:00 AM
NEWS BRIEF

Daher-Socata is reducing lead times to accommodate OEM demand in hopes the effort will lead to increased revenues, AIN Online reports.
The French aerostructure specialist aims to boost revenue more than 50% to €1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) by 2017.

“We are implementing a plan, following Airbus’s and other customers’ recommendations, to improve our delivery performance,” Daher-Socata CEO Stéphane Mayer told AIN. 

The company has already improved on-time delivery rates to between 95 and 97% by monitoring its supply chain.

“Difficulties also sometimes arise with new technologies,” writes Thierry Dubois of AIN. “For example, it took longer than expected to reach peak efficiency in producing some fasteners that the company started delivering last year for the Airbus A350.”

Samples of the thermoplastic composite fasteners arrived at Airbus’s factory late, causing problems for Daher-Socata, which has committed to delivering fasteners, landing-gear doors, air intakes and engine pylons for five A350s.

No longer will the company outsource aerostructures work to countries with low labor costs. 

“Delivering on time is paramount; if your low-cost partner has problems and you have to send a go-team to solve them, the bottom line will not be that cheap,” Mayer told AIN. 

If all goes well, Daher-Socata hopes to become a tier-one supplier for Boeing. ©2013 GlobalFastenerNews.com