Bell Helicopter’s new maintenance and completion center became fully operational earlier this year in Piney Flats, Tenn. The 150,000-sq-ft facility handles the company’s light, intermediate and medium helicopter lines—everything from the 206L4 through the 412EPi—under one roof, employs 130 direct labor customizing technicians and 34 engineers and is located across the street from Bell’s Aeronautical Accessories components company. Bell provides regular service for 85 regional aircraft customers in Piney Flats and is also the company’s component repair and overhaul facility as well as its completion facility for aircraft from its Mirabel, Quebec plant for aircraft delivered worldwide.
“The positive thing with this building is that all of our customizing activities are under one roof—including all the back shops, machining and tooling areas—so the technicians can stay in that single area without havin to move around campus to do any special processing,” said Chad Nimrick, general manager for Bell Helicopter’s U.S. sites. “We could also lay out the facility in a truly lean customizing organization. Before, we used our existing maintenance facilities and there were some limitations there. The aircraft were tightly stacked together and there wasn’t as much room around the aircraft. Today we have a lot more room and all of the components that were removed from the aircraft and all the parts that will be installed on that aircraft are located in that bay. The technician essentially doesn’t have to leave that workspace. They can order parts. It is now a lean and efficient operation,” he said.

SHARED EXPERTISE

The Piney Flats facility has many employee amenities such as large break rooms and personal stowage space. It also has large back shops and Wi-Fi throughout, allowing employees to connect to its enterprise resource planning system (ERP). “We integrated an ERP system campus wide,” Nimrick explained. “Now we can order a part from Aeronautical Accessories in the customizing environment and the order goes into a single procurement organization and there is essentially no paperwork. That is probably one of the biggest benefits,” he said. 

Customers who choose to have their helicopters completed, refurbished or modified at Piney Flats benefit from its proximity to Aeronautical Accessories and the shared intellectual property between it and Bell as well as Bell’s familiarity with the avionics packages available for its helicopters, Nimrick said. “All of our processes, all of our certification, all quality, all airworthiness, all engineering can be done in one location and we have access to all of the intellectual property and access to the functional Bell helicopter engineering organization and the follow-up flight test and [FAA] ODA [organization designation authorization] organization all housed under one organization. We don’t have to go out and get the engineering data; we have access to it here. We don’t typically ask for third-party integration but when we do we already have all of our contracts already in place, so it is a smooth transition for the customer.”

Piney Flats can handle a variety of projects. “It is really a turnkey operation and we can basically do anything the customer wants, from a basic private aircraft to a complex law enforcement aircraft. Approximately 70 percent of the aircraft we complete here are delivered outside North America, so we have a large international customer base. We are proud of that because there is a lot of work in getting particular features certified in different countries,” Nimrick said. Customers in North, Central and South America typically pick up their aircraft and fly home, while more distant deliveries ship out of seaports in Baltimore or Los Angeles or via air freight. Bell provides technicians to reassemble aircraft and assist with flight checks.

Most customers make their buying decisions before visiting Piney Flats with the help of Bell demonstration or other customer aircraft or via computerized renderings generated by the Bell sales team in Fort Worth. However, there is a “mini design studio” in Piney Flats wher they can do look and feels or leathers, veneers and other materials.

Additionally, the old 429 maintenance hangar is being converted into a dedicated customer acceptance and delivery facility with private offices and restrooms, secure high-speed Wi-Fi, fax machines and break areas. Catered meals are provided to customers on site. The build out will be completed early next year.