Manufacturer Seeks to Regain Top Ranking

Bell Helicopter is trying to regain its footing after holding a distant second place slot in worldwide civil helicopter sales for five consecutive years. When the world helicopter industry gathers for the HAI Expo in Las Vegas next week, a lot of people will want to hear management's plan for introducing products that will fire up sales. Bell Chief Executive Mike Redenbaugh says he won't disappoint. For the first time in years, he said Bell has more to offer its customers than vague promises.

"We'll provide something a little more concrete than, 'We're working on it,'" Redenbaugh, who was named CEO of Fort Worth-based Bell last May, recently told the Dallas Star-Telegram.

Although Bell won't unveil an all-new helicopter model, Redenbaugh says he will announce a plan for developing new and improved models at the Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo trade show Sunday. He declined to discuss specifics, but the newspaper indicated sources, within Bell, say engineers are working on three projects that could lead to improved aircraft within a couple of years. According to the Star-Telegram's report, a tail-rotor shroud, known as a fenestron, is being designed and will be tested on a Bell 407, the company's best-selling helicopter. Used for years by other manufacturers, the shroud produces a quieter aircraft and reduces the risk of someone being maimed by the tail rotor. An articulated main rotor system, a technology used by Sikorsky and Eurocopter, will be tested on a Bell 427. The new rotor is expected to generate more lift and cost less to maintain than the traditional Bell design.

Within 24 months, the company hopes to obtain FAA certification for a revamped Bell 427. Plans call for a stretched aircraft with a larger cockpit and cabin. A new rotor system and upgraded transmission would allow improved performance and increased payload. Improvements to the 427, if they materialize, will be a big step forward. The twin-engine aircraft, Bell's first "clean sheet of paper" design since the original H-1 in the 1950s, was developed in the late '90s. But the aircraft had too small a rotor for adequate power, and sales have lagged.

Bell's business could use a shot of adrenaline. In 1996, the company produced 49 percent of the world's new civil helicopters, according to data compiled by the Teal Group, a market-forecasting firm. But since then, even Bell officials concede, Bell has been pounded by aggressive archrival Eurocopter. Just 31 percent of the new helicopters produced last year came from Bell. Eurocopter's ascendancy, analysts say, is understandable. It has introduced a series of new or substantially upgraded models. Bell hasn't.

Most of Bell's products were last upgraded in the early '90s. In recent years, the company has devoted most of its engineering and financial resources to the V-22 Osprey military and BA-609 civil tilt- rotor aircraft. It didn't take long, Redenbaugh says, before he realized that Bell needed to do something quickly to inject life into its aging product line. Bell builds major components for its civil helicopters, including rotors and transmissions, in Fort Worth. Final assembly happens at the company's plant in Montreal.

Since taking over, Redenbaugh says he has talked to hundreds of Bell customers to determine their needs. Then he mapped out short- and long-term strategies. Bell employees say Redenbaugh has given the green light to numerous proposals for modest but important product improvements, some of which have been around for years.

Many in the industry hope that Bell will announce plans for an all-new helicopter. Bell officials acknowledge that they have such a project, code-named MAPL, but Redenbaugh says it will be the end of the decade before an all-new product is in production. Short term, the company is doing what it can to improve the performance and cut the operating costs of its helicopter models. These steps, Redenbaugh says, will help keep Bell's existing customers happy and should lead to additional sales. Over the next couple of years, Redenbaugh says Bell will make significant improvements to some of its existing aircraft. In the future will come the BA-609 tilt-rotor, scheduled for certification by the end of 2007, and then perhaps a variation of the MAPL project.

FMI: www.bellhelicopter.textron.com