Rolls-Royce has overhauled its aftermarket operations by restructuring its engine MRO network, establishing a global customer-service center (CSC) chain and enhancing support services. Following two years of consultation with owners/operators, the engine-maker has restructured activities that previously centered at its Derby, UK headquarters, according to head of services marketing Alex Dulewicz.
This month Rolls-Royce opened three CSCs aimed at what it says will improve responsiveness, local awareness, and customer proximity in four regions: the Americas (served from Washington D.C.), Greater China (Beijing), and Europe and Middle East/Africa (Derby). Rolls reports that an initial "seed" unit, established in Singapore 12 months ago to serve Asia/Pacific, has reduced by 65 percent the time taken to address local customer issues previously covered from the UK.
Anticipating a "threefold increase" in demand by 2030, RR also has evolved its Trent engine MRO network of company- and customer-owned maintenance shops and joint ventures (JVs) to create a more competitive model that has abolished previous territorial rights. They now will bid for business, said MRO services director Simon Hutson-Smith.
The development includes a reformation of JVs by removing cross-shareholdings between Singapore- and Hong Kong-based elements and closing the "non-viable" U.S. operation in Texas. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce has appointed Delta TechOps as the first approved maintenance center in which it holds no equity.
Separately, almost 20 years after its first TotalCare power-by-the-hour customer-support deal, Rolls-Royce has come full circle with the original customer–American Airlines (AA)–adopting the OEM's latest offering for the same engines: RB.211-535s powering its Boeing 757s. Dubbed SelectCare, the new product provides operators of older engines with a customised support package.
The contract replaces AA's current TotalCare and MRO Services agreements, the latter involving direct payment for engine-shop time and materials support. SelectCare fits between Rolls-Royce’s fully comprehensive TotalCare product—said to maximise engine on-wing time while assuring long-term maintenance cost certainty—and the MRO Services offer.
The new product provides “event-based pricing,” fixed-price overhauls, engine exchanges, and customised workscopes, allowing customers to contract for required services over an agreed number of shop visits to match requirements and budget. Rolls claims its knowledge of RB.211 and Trent engines, comprehensive service network, and advanced engine-health monitoring differentiate SelectCare from other fixed-price overhaul agreements.
Rolls-Royce director of services Tom Palmer foresees a 7,450-strong engine "fleet" by 2025 and claims a 45-percent RR share of the "modern widebody market," including Airbus A330, A340 and A350 and Boeing 747-8, 777, and 787 aircraft in service, stored or on order, but excluding earlier Airbus models and Boeing’s 767 and 747-400.
The TotalCare program has mushroomed from nine late-1990s customers flying about 1.2 million hours per year to more than 85 operators logging 14 million hours annually, as Rolls-Royce’s installed engine base has grown from 2,160 units to more than 4,500.