Story ID: 263
Rockwell Collins Firms Up Asia Pacific Presence
By: Ian Sheppard
Caption: The Asia Pacific Region represents significant growth opportunities for the U.S. company’s various product lines.
Word Count: 1071
Colin Mahoney, senior v-p international and service solutions for Rockwell Collins (Stand V77), told AIN, “Asia Pacific is one of the highest opportunity regions. Between Singapore airshows we’ve had material differences in [employee] headcount, up 25 percent from the last show [in 2014] to 1,000, from both organic growth and acquisitions.”

There was an overall strategic move to “shift resources from slower growing markets, and adding several new hires, particularly engineering talent from India,” said the company.

It opened a new engineering facility in Bangalore; and a new manufacturing facility in Sydney for the distributed aperture system for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (the company also makes the helmet). Rockwell Collins has also opened a new facility for its BlueSky Aviation joint venture, called ACCEL Flight Simulation, in Tianjin, China. It has also launched a partnership with Zen Technologies of India for military simulation systems. In addition, a new division now includes activities in China, Australia and India, said Mahoney.

One of its most significant acquisitions was Singapore-based Pacific Avionics, he told AIN, “bringing wireless capabilities to the IFEC market. It allows us to transmit content to people’s devices and add to connectivity services with Inmarsat.”

The company is emphasizing the need to have a greater presence in-region. “We can work to meet the needs of countries and do it in-country, partnering in-country,” said Mahoney. “There are lots of countries in the region, with various levels of maturity. We can help grow capabilities in emerging markets.”

He noted that Rockwell Collins is a communications company, too. “We’ve done a lot of work on that. For example we rolled out TruNet, which allows militaries to communicate securely.”

In commercial aviation he said that it is already two years since Rockwell Collins acquired Arinc. “It’s really flown by,” he said. “Arinc gave us a whole new basket of goods, mainly commercial–ground communications networks, trip planning, flight tracking -- we’ve already rolled out Arinc MultiLink to provide that service.”

“On the airline side this is the biggest growth opportunity in the world,” Mahoney added  “We’ve had a footprint in Australia for 50 years, 32 years in China and celebrated 20 years in Singapore last January [2015].” He pointed to the “numerous contracts” won since the last airshow (see box). “Airlines are really paying us back for the level of support we provide,” Mahoney said.

In service and support, he pointed to the: “increasing adoption of asset management and maintenance programs-by-the-hour. We’ve seen that expand from the 787 to other aircraft, and now we are committing to availability guarantees. So we expedite turnaround times and provide guaranteed availability of spares.” He said more than half of the 787 fleet had been signed up for the “Dispatch 100” program.

On the threat of oil- and commodity-market angst, and the various economic difficulties in China, Mahoney said, “We don’t see any near-term lessening of demand. We follow retirements and recycling of aircraft, and where people put spares into their systems has some downside.” But, he said “more and more people in developing economies have the desire and the [financial] ability to fly. We don’t see any impact [of economic problems] on our airline and airports businesses.”

Mahoney said, “Right now, Asia Pacific represents about 10 percent of our total business. It was half that five years ago so we’re on a great trajectory. Forty-three percent of direct sales are now international, not including the OEMs, and that's going to grow to 50 percent. Asia Pacific is growing from 10 percent, as we’re investing in the right products and generally understanding better where we need to be.”

He said that there was a lot of activity in China with OEM developments in particular, and the Japanese market looks good, too–especially now that it has “changed its constitution on defense.” He added, “Recently we added a managing director, head of north Asia sales, and a strategic leader in Japan–people who understand the culture.”

Regarding the Singapore Airshow this year, Mahoney said: “We always debate the roles of these shows, but these shows [Dubai, Singapore, etc.] are very meaningful ways to meet customers and stakeholders across the business in a short space of time–we’ll see airline and OEM heads, ministers of defense, etc, all in one place.

“It’s far more significant for the region than what we’d accomplish at a Farnborough or a Paris. Our presence is about relationship building, not so much displaying technology,” he added, concluding: “There’s a lot going on in the Asia Pacific; I couldn’t be more pleased at the progress and enthusiasm. It’s very exciting.”

Contracts won by Rockwell Collins since the 2014 Singapore show

Sept. 2014:  Rockwell Collins’ Pro Line Fusion advanced avionics system was selected by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) for its new MA-700 regional airliner. The MA-700, a twin turboprop that follows the development of the MA-60 and MA-600 Xian Modern Ark family of aircraft, is expected to enter service in 2019.

 Feb. 2015:  Rockwell Collins was selected to provide the Australian Army with the latest generation Joint Fires Observer (JFO)/Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) simulator to meet all of the service’s training requirements now and into the foreseeable future.

 Feb 2015:  Low Cost Carrier avionics content wins for Indigo Airlines India (largest in Rockwell Collins’s history) and Lion Air Indonesia. The company claims to have won the great majority of low-cost carrier deals over the last years in APAC.

 Mar. 2015:  Rockwell Collins’ PAVES Broadcast in-flight entertainment (IFE) and Airshow 3D Moving Map systems was selected for 45 Next-Generation Boeing 737 aircraft on order by China-based Xiamen Airlines and its subsidiary, Hebei Airlines. Deliveries will begin early this year.

 March 2015: China Eastern selected Rockwell Collins’ advanced avionics systems, including its Head-up Guidance System (HGS) and Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR), for 20 new Next-Generation Boeing 737 aircraft. Deliveries scheduled to begin early this year.

 Mar. 2015: China-based Hainan Airlines selected Rockwell Collins’ Head-up Guidance System (HGS) for an undisclosed number of new and in-service Next-Generation Boeing 737 aircraft and flight simulators to improve safety and performance.

 Jan. 2016: Narita International Airport expanded its relationship with Rockwell Collins, adding moreARINC common-use passenger processing and ARINC self-service kiosks throughout the airport.