Before that, we were bouncing around in the 20-30% market share and we quickly went to 50%.”. Farnborough Airshow - Tom Williams of Airbus. Speaking to … While advancing certain technologies is important and even necessary in some fields, public safety should always be a priority and far-fetched assumptions should never be made. [4] Because airlines wanted more fuel efficient passenger planes, Airbus executives demanded that the A380 be larger and 20% more fuel efficient than the 747. [2] This decision and lack of judgement can be explained by Williams' condemnation of the Precautionary Principle. But Tom jokes with me that when you look at the guy in the White House now, the FAL in Mobile looks like an inspired decision.”. Despite these expectations, no orders for the A380 were placed at the most important Asian aviation convention in Singapore in mid-February of that year. Airbus Group on Tuesday announced the resignation of the no.2 at its planemaking unit, Chief Operating Officer Gunter Butschek, after 2-1/2 years in the role.... | November 17, 2020 “The A380 seemed to be the next logical step [for Airbus].”. Aeroflot has approved plans to transfer over 40 Sukhoi Superjet 100s from its fleet to sister carrier Rossiya, as part of a restructuring of its short-haul network operations. The 'SE' in the name means it is a societas Europaea, which enables it to be registered as European rather than Dutch.As of 2019, Airbus is the world's largest airliner manufacturer and took the most airliner orders. [9] He also pointed out that fatigue testing cannot take into account every set of operating conditions which would be encountered during a flight. The A320neo’s main mission was to stop the Bombardier CSeries in its tracks, says Williams. [11] The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), Airbus' parent company, estimated a total cost of $131 million to repair all aircraft produced by the end of 2012. Dan Michaels talks to Tom Williams at Farnborough Airshow on producing record volumes of planes and surviving the downturn . 2021 forecast: what shape will recovery take for aviation? [6] This shows how delicate and valuable one's professional reputation truly is. What Will Airbus A380 Fault Mean for Passengers and Airlines? In order to meet these requirements, engineers used an innovative composite material and extremely lightweight aluminum alloys, even for critical parts of the wings. For example, Emirates demanded 60 million euros in damages caused by lost time for repairs. It is therefore important to learn from the mistakes of others working in the same field. Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams has a reputation as a troubleshooter and he's got the aircraft manufacturer's supply chain in his sights. And that created some internal turmoil but was all part of getting the company in the right direction.”, Williams says building a product line to rival Boeing has been a key Airbus achievement, Williams reflects on how, with the benefit of hindsight, the decision in 2000 to launch the A380 now looks questionable, but points out it must be considered in context. The Scotsman was the head of a 900 person team tasked with developing the innovative wings for the world's largest passenger plane, the A380. (2012, February 9). Williams is in charge of the areas at Airbus with the greatest headwinds as Airbus goes from a development driven company to a production driven one. The subsequent investigation revealed manufacturing defects on the wing ribs of the aircraft. A380 was “next logical step” but put huge strain on Airbus’s production infrastructure. Servini, N. (2012, May 8). Schöllhorn, currently COO for BSH Home Appliances in Munich, will succeed Tom Williams, 66, who retires 31 December 2018 after 50 years in the aerospace industry, 19 of which were in top Airbus management positions. The only Brit on the board at Airbus finds it hard to envisage a completely 3D-printed plane any time soon. Airbus completely ignored the fact that the 787 experienced cracking in its wings, yet attempted to make the A380 even larger and more fuel-efficient and was therefore destined for failure. [2] They acknowledged that this amount could easily double or triple if it was found that the planes would require additional repairs. Tom Williams is a man with a problem. Tom Williams, Airbus’s chief operating officer, was stunned when he visited Mobile about a year ago and an airport taxi driver presented him with a copy of his brother’s résumé. “We’d gone from what was a combined European company with 11% market share to get to 50% and giving Boeing real competition,” says Williams. “It was an argument that said the all-new single-aisle really needs to wait until the next step of engine technology, like contra-rotating open-rotors, and that’s not going to come until the latter part of the next decade. 13 January 2016, ©.Leeham Co: Airbus COO Tom Williams has a goal of reducing development expenses by 50% and streamlining the production to “best in class.”. While Airbus hoped the A380 would give them a competitive edge, it only led to their downfall in the market because they failed to efficiently manage their reputation. Tom Williams Defence and Space Public Affairs, Airbus London Area, United Kingdom 500+ connections Modern Airliners. In November 2000, Tom Williams became Managing Director and General Manager of Airbus UK, a position he held until he became Airbus’ Executive Vice President Procurement in 2004. “When we were developing the A320P2F program, if we had gone to the competition of it, it would have been the most wonderful, the most beautiful the most performing P2F program that you could ever imagine,” now-former Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams stated during the Paris Air Show 2015. And we’re not sure how long it’s going to last so what’s the minimum capex you can spend?’, “So all these incremental steps don’t lead you to what you’d consider to be lean flow and best in class.”, Williams credits Enders as the architect of Airbus’s drive to expand its international footprint. Tom Williams is the Chief Operating Officer of Toulouse-based Airbus, a European aircraft manufacturer. “But if you’d said to the people at that time ‘we will actually need rate 70’, then they’d be sending for the men in the white coats. This cracking is not related to the turbulence, or specific to Qantas, but is traced back to a manufacturing issue in this specific wing area of the aircraft," said a Qantas spokesman, adding that Airbus confirmed the cracks had no effect on flight safety. From Wikibooks, open books for an open world, Qantas Flight 32 and the European Aviation Safety Agency. Williams, who began his career at Rolls-Royce in 1969, joined Airbus from BAE Systems in 2000 as managing director of its UK arm, and quickly got tasked with managing wing development for the A380. Cyber-proofing your organisation: the new challenges for the CSO, Single Air Greenland A330-800 gives Airbus first long-haul order in months, In pictures: The airline industry’s crisis year, Aeroflot approves transfer of over 40 Superjets to Rossiya. And there was also the small matter of helping mastermind the production ramp-up to levels which, in his own words, would at one time be considered “madness”. As Airbus executive vice president Tom Williams said to Executive Traveller in 2012, “The wings are designed for a much larger airplane, so we have the capability of going to a bigger fuselage – we can stretch the fuselage very easily.” Williams, 62, is an aerospace veteran who began on the shop floor with Rolls-Royce (RR.L) and held senior roles on the Eurofighter with BAE Systems (BAES.L), before transferring in 2000 to Airbus… Frost, L. & Hepher, T. (2012, February 8). Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Kaminski-Morrow, D. (2012, May 24). This site uses cookies. Tom Williams, chief operating officer of Airbus Commercial Aircraft, said in "any scenario", Brexit had "severe negative consequences" for the UK aerospace industry and Airbus in particular. [2] This case is an important example of a technical professional making decisions based on demands coming from nontechnical company executives. History of the Airbus A380. Lastly, Airbus allowed hubris to influence their objectives. Subscribe now to Flight International magazine, How the world’s air forces came to the rescue in troubled 2020, Flight International Letters, December 2020. Tom cut through all that and said we’re going to put people in position who are the best and most knowledgeable. Transcript. Following the discovery of cracks, Airbus CEO Tom Enders said: "I don't think this will harm its reputation in the long term. The Airbus A380 Wing Cracks: An Engineer's Perspective. [2]. Tom Williams Public Affairs Manager, Airbus London, Greater London, United Kingdom Public Policy 1 person has recommended Tom Once Airbus was associated with the manufacturing of potentially dangerous aircraft, airlines began to turn away from Airbus and instead purchase their larger aircraft from Boeing. “And because of that, every decision was incremental: ‘how quickly can you get to rate 32, 36 etc? Zhang, B. Tom Williams corporate profile, background and performance evaluation including other AIRBUS SE executives Tom Williams stepped away from Airbus at the end of 2018 as chief operating officer, having had a front-seat view during a crucial period in its history. Williams and his team believed in the design. [2] To compete with rival Boeing's dominance in the manufacturing of jumbo passenger jets, they sought to make the wings as light as possible in order to reduce fuel consumption. EASA advocated for the Precautionary Principle, which states that the introduction of a new product or process whose ultimate effects are disputed or unknown should be resisted. Instead, his team made assumptions on the usage of the material because it had been used in planes of much smaller size. Voir le profil professionnel de Tom WILLIAMS sur LinkedIn. Last year, Airbus shipped 626 A320-family aircraft. The carrier will receive the aircraft in time to ensure long-haul continuity between Greenland and Denmark from the end of 2022. Deckstein, D. & Traufetter, G. (2012, March 21). When told to reduce the weight of the plane, Williams could have demanded that further testing and studies be done on this lightweight material. Zenith Press. On 21 November, Airbus appointed Michael Schöllhorn, COO for BSH Home Appliances GmbH, to succeed Tom Williams as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Airbus Commercial Aircraft from 1 February 2019, and Dominik Asam, CFO of Infineon Technologies, to succeed Harald Wilhelm as Chief Financial Officer from 10 April 2019. “I argued against it at the time, I wasn’t sure what the point of it was. Airbus A380: superjumbo of the 21st century. In 2000, when he joined Airbus, its single-aisle deliveries hit an annual record of 241 aircraft. Airbus boss warns company would 'enter a dangerous phase' if Brexit disrupts free movement of people. [9] During a 2016 interview, Williams commented on the fact that the decision to go ahead with the A380 was made at a time when Airbus saw “Boeing making a ton of money on the 747, exchange rates were different, the oil price was different” [10]. [2] This was not a situation like that of Dan Applegate, who was confident there was a serious problem and didn't speak up. [8] He admitted that the testing plan made assumptions about the type of aluminum used, and claimed that nonlinear modeling tools that may have aided their analysis weren't available at the time. Almost 7,000 of them, in fact, but all “good problems”, he Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams believes suppliers around Bristol need to push the boundaries of technology around composite materials and 3D printing. This page was last edited on 7 May 2018, at 23:32. Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams has warned that the company could leave the UK in the event of no Brexit transition deal. In contrast to EASA's position, Tom Williams publicly condemns the Precautionary Principle, saying: "If we had never dared to embark on new paths, aircraft would still be made of wood and canvas" [2]. Tom Williams was born in 1952 in Glasgow. PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Group on Tuesday announced the resignation of the no.2 at its planemaking unit, Chief Operating Officer Gunter Butschek, after 2-1/2 years in the role. Williams’ comments come on the back of a risk assessment released by Airbus Thursday in which the firm warned a no-deal Brexit would cause “severe disruption” to its operations in the U.K., where it employs 14,000 people directly and supports some 100,000 indirectly. pp. Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams has a reputation as a troubleshooter and he's got the aircraft manufacturer's supply chain in his sights. [11] It didn't include the additional cost of repairing other planes currently in production which were going to be delivered in the next few months. Williams, who began as an apprentice in his native Scotland, once told Reuters: "There is the official factory floor and the real factory floor; you have to know both." [2] Costs also include reparations to affected commercial airlines. He points to Airbus’s early days when it was setting out to challenge not just Boeing, but McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed too. [1] The Scotsman was the head of a 900 person team tasked with developing the innovative wings for the world's largest passenger plane, the A380. To circumvent the inevitable added weight, Williams and his engineering team subjected the A380 to extremely lightweight aluminum alloys, reducing the weight by a few hundred kilograms. “He was pushing very hard on the internationalisation of the company. Grâce à LinkedIn, le plus grand réseau professionnel au monde, les professionnels tels que Tom WILLIAMS peuvent découvrir des suggestions de candidat, des experts dans leur domaine et des partenaires commerciaux. “When we were developing the A320P2F program, if we had gone to the competition of it, it would have been the most wonderful, the most beautiful the most performing P2F program that you could ever imagine,” now-former Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams stated during the Paris Air Show 2015. Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams has a reputation as a troubleshooter and he's got the aircraft manufacturer's supply chain in his sights. But one feat he and his peers are rightly proud of is the transformation of Airbus from a consortium of national aerospace companies into a consolidated business capable of taking on the might of Boeing. In this interview, Tom Williams disclosed that the project may have been given the go-ahead partially for the ego satisfaction of the company leadership team, saying pride was "probably on the cusp”[10] when the decision was made. Instead of developing a larger aircraft with higher risk due to the absence of tools and testing processes, tried-and-true materials should have been used; it's better to be safe than sorry. Kaminski-Morrow, D. (2012, January 19). Airbus Admits No Quick-Fix for A380 Wing-Rib Crack Issue. Following the discovery of cracks in the wings of several aircraft, EASA issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) to ground 20 A380's for visual inspections. "We've used this alloy in many other aircraft in the past," Williams later said. “And by the time I was head of programmes in 2006, we were at the point of saying we want to go from rate 28 to rate 30 and 35. "During these inspections, minor cracking was found on some wing rib brackets. Tom Williams, Airbus’s chief operating officer, was stunned when he visited Mobile about a year ago and an airport taxi driver presented him with a copy of his brother’s résumé. Williams was speaking at the Airbus Innovation Days 2016. [2] To break-even, Airbus executives estimated that about 250 planes would need to be sold. To compete with Boeing, Airbus framed its metrics for an elite aircraft as one that's larger and more fuel-efficient than the Boeing 747. The A380 is here to stay." Airbus Chief Operating Officer Tom Williams said: “We are delighted to welcome Garuda Indonesia as a new customer for the A330neo.” The aircraft will have Airbus… In addition to financial consequences, Airbus faced a decline in their professional reputation as an aircraft manufacturer. In tandem with its market-share growth, Airbus also reinvented itself as a fully integrated business free from the shackles of governments’ national agendas. On 21 November, Airbus appointed Michael Schöllhorn, COO for BSH Home Appliances GmbH, to succeed Tom Williams as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Airbus Commercial Aircraft from 1 February 2019, and Dominik Asam, CFO of Infineon Technologies, to succeed Harald Wilhelm as Chief Financial Officer from 10 April 2019. Airbus initially traced these A380 wing cracks to the manufacturing process. What ultimately resulted was the CSeries becoming a key member of the Airbus product line-up as the A220, while A320neo sales have gone on to exceed 6,500 aircraft. Airbus chief operating officer Tom Williams has warned that the company could leave the UK in the event of no Brexit transition deal. The only Brit on the board at Airbus finds it hard to envisage a completely 3D-printed plane any time soon. Stepping up! Williams’ comments come on the back of a risk assessment released by Airbus Thursday in which the firm warned a no-deal Brexit would cause “severe disruption” to its operations in the U.K., where it employs 14,000 people directly and supports some 100,000 indirectly. FlightGlobal is the global aviation community’s primary source of news, data, insight, knowledge and expertise. In November 2010, the pilots of a Qantas A380 were forced to perform an emergency landing after an engine exploded shortly after take-off. [7], Tom Williams never tried to shift the responsibility for the design failure, saying in an interview, "Ultimately, I'm responsible for this." Farnborough Airshow - Tom Williams of Airbus. “There was a bit of hubris that the company entered into a fixed-price contract [for A400M] with technology that was at the best unproven…with so many different functionalities required for each different nation.”, Williams says that the A400M “consumed an awful lot of energy…it was probably underrated in terms of the impact that had on the company. By Max Kingsley-Jones2019-05-28T11:37:00+01:00, Airbus veteran Tom Williams, who retired at the end of 2018 after two decades in the management team, gives his perspective on some of the company’s key achievements. Airbus Group on Tuesday announced the resignation of the no.2 at its planemaking unit, Chief Operating Officer Gunter Butschek, after 2-1/2 years in the role.... | November 17, 2020 “With 3D printing we have not yet fully exploited the potential,” he said. And the time will zip past!”, Read every story celebrating the 50th anniversary of Airbus here. (2016, February 10). Chief ... A year that began with plenty of reasons for optimism about the industry’s prospects quickly turned into 12 months of unprecedented challenges, dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Tom Williams is a man with a problem. The impending void in the Airbus product-development (PD) road map raises the question many are asking – what’s next? An airline executive in India said they should start coming in to airline customers by July. PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Group (Paris:AIR.PA - News) on Tuesday announced the resignation of the no.2 at its planemaking unit, Chief Operating Officer Gunter Butschek, after 2-1/2 years in the role. “We could have done it better if we had known the end game at the beginning,” he says. Hairline Cracks Could Cost EADS 100 Million Euros. [9] Even with some useful tools at their disposal, the subsequent fatigue testing would never be able to account for every variation of temperature and pressure which the aircraft would have been subject to. The Airbus ‘front office’ has undergone evolutionary and revolutionary changes since the original A300B1 cockpit of 1972. On the appointment, Airbus CEO Tom Enders said: “We are glad to welcome Michael, and we bid farewell to Tom Williams, a great personality and leader both in … The precautionary principle helps shed light on contrasting positions between Williams and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Williams says that the difficulty in predicting long-term output requirements results in a less-than-ideal production line set-ups. Mid-flight, the tips of the A380's wings can bend upward by over 2 meters or downward by 1 meter, and the material in the wings can vary from 70 to -50 degrees Celsius. Any change in a company's reputation within their industry can have devastating effects and influence how customers and clients view them. Tom Williams is affiliated with Airbus SAS, EADS Deutschland GmbH, Airbus Corporate Jet Centre SAS, Airbus SE, Airbus UK Ltd., Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG, Pilkington Optronics Ltd, Cummins Engines Ltd., Airbus SE, Airbus Group Ltd., Airbus Operations GmbH, Airbus Operations Ltd. Williams led an unprecedented output hike. (2012, February 13). He is in charge of ensuring the profitability of the civil programs, of leading the product policy and the development of … From 2006, Williams spent a decade heading programmes and customer services, with a final three years as COO. [2] He was referring to the developmental problems that occurred when developing the 787 Dreamliner, which was the first commercial airliner to use mostly composites instead of aluminum. HAMBURG: Airbus expects to start getting the upgraded engines from Pratt & Whitney its A320neo planes this 'summer', its chief operating officer Tom Williams said Monday. Spiegel Online. It drove a huge amount of management attention.”. By Bjorn Fehrm. Airbus Group
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