Quality Engineering Career News by UQSI

The Boeing Co.’s largest competitor, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., surpassed Boeing in annual revenue in 2008, according to a Deloitte study on the aerospace industry published earlier this month. EADS and Boeing logos

Though European companies grew faster than U.S. firms, the U.S. firms had higher operating margins, the report said. European companies are having “difficulty in cutting labor costs and rationalizing facilities for the industry in countries where there is higher government intervention and job protection schemes,” wrote Tom Captain, an aerospace and defense consultant at Deloitte LLP.

The study points out that EADS edged out Boeing for the title of world’s largest aerospace and defense firm. But EADS’ title may be short lived after the recession-induced aviation slump and costs related to its A400M military transport project take their toll. (Learn more from WSJ’s Matthew Curtin.)

Read more…

May 19, 6:25 PM (ET)

By TOM KRISHER

DETROIT (AP) – Some soccer moms will have to give up hulking SUVs. Carpenters will still haul materials around in pickup trucks, but they will cost more. Nearly everybody else will drive smaller cars, and more of them will run on electricity. The higher mileage and emissions standards set by the Obama administration on Tuesday, which begin to take effect in 2012 and are to be achieved by 2016, will transform the American car and truck fleet.

The new rules would bring new cars and trucks sold in the United States to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon, about 10 mpg more than today’s standards. Passenger cars will be required to get 39 mpg, light trucks 30 mpg.

Read more…

By SCOTT MORRISON

Concerned a brain drain could hurt its long-term ability to compete, Google Inc. is tackling the problem with its typical tool: an algorithm.

The Internet search giant recently began crunching data from employee reviews and promotion and pay histories in a mathematical formula Google says can identify which of its 20,000 employees are most likely to quit.

Google officials are reluctant to share details of the formula, which is still being tested. The inputs include information from surveys and peer reviews, and Google says the algorithm already has identified employees who felt underused, a key complaint among those who contemplate leaving.

Read more…

Associated Press – May 15, 2009 12:45 PM ET

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Cascade Aerospace USA Inc. has dedicated its new maintenance facility at Spokane International Airport.

The Canadian company will initially employ about 60 people, and is using an old National Guard hanger for its work.

The company is already talking about expanding to up to 500 workers, and adding an airplane painting contractor from Everett.

Tue May 12, 2009 3:03pm EDT

By R. Manikandan

BANGALORE, May 12 (Reuters) – Canadian aviation repair company Vector Aerospace Corp’s (RNO.TO) quarterly profit more than doubled, helped by purchase of a British military helicopter repair company, and it forecast higher earnings in 2009, sending its shares up over 9 percent.

For the first quarter ended March 31, the company posted net income of C$9.2 million ($7.9 million), or 24 Canadian cents a share, up from C$3.9 million, or 10 Canadian cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Read more…

By Allen Samuel

05/04/09

While the daily newscasts continue with doom-and-gloom accounts of our nation’s economy, the Connecticut businesses supporting the aerospace industry supply chain remain vital and in fact, busy!

Connecticut’s small to mid-size suppliers serve the broad global aerospace industry making parts for all the larger aerospace companies like Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney , General Electric and Rolls-Royce. The 60 companies that are members of the state’s aerospace “cluster,” Aerospace Components Manufacturers Inc. (ACM), now employ about 5,500 people and have annual sales of more than $1.4 billion.

Yes, it is true that many of Connecticut’s unskilled jobs have been outsourced overseas, but skilled workers remain in high demand at our local firms and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But our aerospace work force is aging. We face a “silver tsunami” with so many of our older and most skilled workers nearing retirement.

Read more…