The UH-72A final assembly line in Mississippi was set up to manufacture the 345 Lakota helicopters ordered by the US Army. This assembly line is a symbol of the successful transatlantic cooperation between Eurocopter’s European sites and those of American Eurocopter.

The Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) program is founded on inter-Group cooperation. However, the seven-hour time difference between Mississippi and Western Europe, the cultural differences and the many miles that separate the sites do present certain difficulties. Ad-hoc meetings on site are of course impossible due to the long distance, which also considerably extends the shipment time for parts. Moreover, U.S. customs formalities are not always smooth, which can further complicate procedures. Communication is not a major problem, however, as most of the documentation is in English.

A Model Program Requiring Exceptional Reactivity and Resources
According to the program manager, Reinhard Schuch, “The main difficulty lies in creating and harmonizing a functional and stable transatlantic organization behind the project. A lot of new ground still needs to be covered and the LUH program just keeps growing and growing.” The final assembly line is up and running and American Eurocopter has started work on aircraft customization for the U.S. Army. All of this requires a concerted effort to produce documentation and draft approval procedures. Reinhard Schuch continues: “The U.S. Army is more than just a prestigious customer: it is also an extremely demanding one that requires a great deal of commitment, exactitude and responsiveness. The Eurocopter staff has to deal with a lot of personnel from the U.S. Army working on the LUH program, and they too demand the highest levels of performance from their service providers in terms of planning and project management (preparation of timetables and presentations, and scheduled review meetings). Any departure from the production plan has to be substantiated meticulously.” The U.S. Army also has very strict requirements in terms of lead times and results. Ultimately, the LUH program will act as the model for any military orders that follow.

Continuous Communication and Integrated Product Teams
The only way to meet these challenges is through impeccable management, and Eurocopter is providing first-rate communication: Program managers from Germany and American Eurocopter communicate via conference calls and telephone meetings three times a week. The other industrial companies involved in the program also take part in these telephone discussions. The lines of communication across the Atlantic are also kept open should any problems arise requiring a rapid solution and, if necessary, no heed is paid to the time difference. Six people from Eurocopter left Bavaria for the Golden Triangle(1) to work on site in the United States, alongside the teams from American Eurocopter. The program team from Eurocopter is relatively small, but there is nothing minute about its determination and commitment to its mission. All the processes are made clear and decisions are made in the open. This creates mutual trust, providing a solid platform for building fruitful partnerships where spoken agreements often replace written ones, and employees take great pleasure simply from working together. American Eurocopter sent 41 members of its staff to Germany for training, which has also contributed to building a strong and cohesive team. In order to improve communication and the decisionmaking process, integrated product teams were created with the customer and suppliers, and the U.S. Army rates the work of these teams very highly. Finally, the open-mindedness of many of the U.S. Army personnel–some of whom have kept strong links with Germany from the time when they were stationed in the country–has also had a positive influence on the program.