News
Bell streamlines product line
January 25, 2008 By Corrie
Jan. 25, 2008, Fort Worth, TX - Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announced that it is optimizing its commercial product line to better serve its customer base and accelerate deliveries of its high-demand aircraft.
Jan. 25, 2008,Fort Worth, TX – Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announced that
it is optimizing its commercial product line to better serve its
customer base and accelerate deliveries of its high-demand aircraft.
Bell
is seeing tremendous demand for its 412, 407 and new 429 commercial
products, and is taking steps to transform itself into a stronger, more
streamlined company. Bell is increasing its production capacity while
terminating production of its 206B3, 427, 430 and 210 helicopter
models. All current customer commitments will be met through 2010. Like
all Bell products, whether they are currently being manufactured or
not, each of these models will continue to be supported by Bell's
customer support network known around the world for its unparalleled
service that keeps the industry's largest installed base flying
everyday.
Bell President and CEO Dick Millman
stated, “Our most recent analysis of the marketplace has indicated an
increased demand for our 407 and 412 commercial helicopters, along with
our outstanding new 429 model. We are fully booked on these models
until 2010. Consequently, we are both significantly increasing our
overall capacity – and eliminating production of some lower volume
products. At the same time we are continuing to provide our number one
rated customer support. We know that this is the best path forward to
meet our customers' needs.”
Analysis of its
internal structures has yielded a more strategic allocation of
resources and real-time decision-making that Bell anticipates will
enable it to deliver a larger number of commercial helicopters each
year.
Bob Fitzpatrick, Bell's senior vice
president for Marketing and Sales said, “When we looked at the
marketplace, we identified important trends in the market segments we
serve. The data validated that the capabilities of our most popular
models, along with our new product offerings, are well matched to meet
market needs and we expect will continue to ensure Bell's strong
competitiveposition.
“Bell is a customer-focused
company and we are aligning our capacity to fulfill our customer
requirements as quickly as we can. The decision to eliminate these four
products was difficult, but we feel our remaining product line-up along
with new products in our development pipeline will benefit our
customers and position the company for continued growth,” Fitzpatrick
added.
