CFM International president and CEO Jean-Paul Ebanga has a keen sense of history, and why wouldn’t he? The Franco-American joint venture between Safran and GE lays a reasonable claim to being the most successful aerospace joint venture in history, with more than 30,000 aircraft engines delivered since its foundation back in 1974.
“Farnborough 2016 is a major landmark in CFM’s history, because it marks the end of one of the most demanding and fascinating periods of our history,” he told AIN in an interview before this week’s Farnborough International air show. At face value, his comment implies that the company is now set for a period of calm. On the contrary: it is embarking on a period of unprecedented production rates that will require it to deliver on a backlog of just over 10,500 of its new Leap engines to power the new A320neo and 737 Max narrowbody airliners that Airbus and Boeing, respectively are bringing to market. Assuming China’s Comac ever delivers on its so-far unfulfilled ambitions to bring the C919 to market, Leap will power that aircraft, too.
During the month of May, CFM achieved simultaneous FAA/EASA certification for both the A320neo’s Leap 1A turbofan and the Leap 1B for the 737 Max. “Now [June 8] we’re contemplating entry-into-service [for the A320neo] in a few weeks, and what we have done to prepare for this is not just about the product, it was not just about the supply chain,” Ebanga said. “We’ve been working for four years on the three pillars of this program: right product, right supply chain and having the right product support. Selling an engine takes a year, at most; it takes 30 years to support it and ensure that the customer gets the lifetime costs that were promised.”
Four years ago, CFM (Outdoor Exhibit 22) resolved to adopt a dual-source policy for all Leap engine components. “It was a bold decision as most CFM56 parts [CFM’s legacy engine] are single source,” said Ebanga. “But for Leap, because of the production ramp-up and the need for risk mitigation, we thought that the set up for our supply chain requires us to go the extra mile with dual-source. Another key decision is that most of the suppliers we have are existing CFM56 suppliers, and so we know them very well and we’ve learned to work together well. This is a key foundation.”
Process apart, the Leap program’s main claim to fame is new technology that CFM says will deliver a 15 percent improvement in fuel efficiency compared with existing CFM56 engines. One key factor on CFM’s technology palette is the ceramics matrix composites used for the Leap engine’s shroud and first stage compressor. Another is the proprietary TAPS II (twin annular pre-mixing swirling) combustor that cuts nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions in half.
“We decided to do all this work in-house and to build new factories in New Hampshire [GE] and France [Safran] to make all the major parts as part of our risk mitigation mindset,” said Ebanga. “At peak rates of production we’ll be making 1,700 engines per year; that’s 36,000 fan blades.”
CFM views the production ramp-up process as being similar to what an athlete would do in preparation for the Olympics; building up stamina to be ready for when maximum output is required through its Run@Rate program. “Over the past few years we’ve trained the muscle of CFM and its supply chain to be ready for this huge rate of production,” Ebanga explained. “We have approached this situation in a systematic way, not a reactive way, so instead of sending people all over the place to support the weakest parts of the supply chain and guess where the problems could be, we’ve tried to understand what rate will be needed a year from now and stretch ourselves now to get to this speed to see where the potential weaknesses might be.”
This approach has resulted in hundreds of process changes, such as adjusting maintenance intervals on production machinery and investing in more laser machines to overcome envisioned bottlenecks. From the earliest stages of the Leap engine development, every phase of the work has been subject to a dual review, or tollgate, process that challenges those responsible to prove that their approach is viable.
While Leap 1A production is accelerating for the A320neo, the 1B turbofan is now busily engaged in Boeing’s certification program for the 737 Max. The airframer has four test aircraft flying, and CFM reported that the powerplant has performed flawlessly, so far. It aims to get the 1C engine for Comac’s C919 certified by the end of this year.
According to Ebanga, continued uncertainty across the global economy has done nothing to dent the Leap program’s unprecedented backlog of orders, adding that CFM is currently logging new sales at a rate that is roughly double what it achieved this time last year. He pointed to rising airline revenues as a backdrop to this continued demand, and more specifically, the strong motivation carriers have to boost profit margins with more efficient equipment.
But Ebanga is not complacent about the twists and turns of market conditions. Casting his mind back to 2008 when CFM announced the Leap program at that year’s Farnborough show, he reflected that just a few weeks later, the world economy was rocked by one of the most severe financial crises ever. “The key lesson was that even though we faced this terrible period, Safran and GE never gave up or eased the level of commitment [to the program],” he said. “Throughout the difficult years, we kept investing to do the right thing. Having two companies so closely aligned and committed for such a long time is remarkable, and this is part of the fabric of CFM’s success.” o