GEA HondaJets’ efficiency

GE Aviation has taken delivery of the first of two HondaJets and is seeing dramatic benefits in productivity and efficiency from the little aircraft that could. It whisks executives to and from company sites in Alabama, Mississippi and Ohio. Production of the airline CFM Leap Engine has meant developing new processes and materials such as additive manufacturing and carbon matrix composites, and building new factories to feed assembly lines. The HondaJet fits well within the high-tech supply chain. “We’re flying the heck out of it,” says David Joyce, vice chair of GE and President/CEO of GE Aviation. GEA’s Cincinnati-based manufacturing executives that visit their Batesville, Miss., facility used to fly all day via Memphis and then drive to the state’s other GEA plant in Batesville. The HondaJet gets them there in the morning, allows them to leave before lunch before flying on to GEA facilities in Auburn, Ala., before returning home the same day. GE, whose GE Honda Aero Engines joint venture manufactures HondaJet’s powerplants, will also benefit by creating “our own fleet leader program on the engines,” said Joyce. The four meeting sites represented a week’s worth of airline travel in one day. “The most we’ve flown is 19 flights in one week,” said Brad Mottier, VP/GM of GEA’s business and general aviation and integrated systems operation. The company has identified 20 manufacturing sites that can be best serviced by HondaJet because of the lack of direct airline flights. GEA will take delivery of a second HondaJet in 2018. (Source: Aviation Week 05/22/17)