HAI - Houston, TX - February 22, 2008 - Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, discussed its approach to customer support and the critical areas it intends to focus on in the future at this week's HAI conference.
Shane Eddy, senior vice president Customer Support and Chief Services Officer stated, "Our approach to customer support can be broken down into three basic areas. First with a focus on continuous improvement we work everyday to re-enforce the foundation of our industry-leading services; second we listen to our customers and strive to refine and provide the necessities of premier support as defined by them; and third we continually seek new ways to partner with our customers to strengthen the overall services value stream." Steps taken recently to reinforce the customer support foundation include launching Bell's FlySmart fleet management service, opening Edwards South in Fort Lauderdale; ramping up and improving our component Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) capability in Roanoke; expanding our rotor blade MRO capability with the opening of Rotor Blades Limited in Warminster; adding world-class engine MRO capability with the integration of McTurbine in Corpus Christi and the addition of state-of-the-art electronic maintenance tracking and management capability with the acquisition of SkyBooks in Jacksonville.
To attain what Bell defines as premier support, steps have been taken to improve spare parts delivery – Bell's highest priority. Moving technical publications to an electronic format is providing customers with access to multiple model documentation sets, and current plans call for all model types to be available in these formats by the middle of this year.
Customer partnerships are benefiting from user group meetings, maintenance and operations conferences, and the development of a standardized Customer Service Facility (CSF) monitoring process to ensure greater service consistency.
About Bell Helicopter
Bell Helicopter is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned vertical lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tilt rotor aircraft. Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell's global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a $13.2 billion multi-industry company operating in 34 countries with approximately 44,000 employees. The company leverages its global network of aircraft, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company , Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Fluid & Power, Textron Systems and Textron Financial Corporation. More information is available at www.textron.com.
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