Closing the time zone divide

Rolls-Royce addresses airlines’ demands for local support.

by CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, TOM BALLANTYNE  

February 1st 2016

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It has been a year since Rolls-Royce’s first Singapore-built Trent 1000 engine was officially launched, aptly bound for a B787 Dreamliner operated by Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) LCC subsidiary, Scoot. Read More » Manufactured at Rolls-Royce’s engine centre at Singapore’s Seletar Aerospace Park, the unveiling of the engine was a milestone in the company’s history and a new marker in its relationship with Singapore.

Last month, at a media briefing at the engine-maker’s headquarters in Derby, it was announced that Singapore would participate in trials of a system aimed at bringing repair services closer to the company’s customers.

Rolls-Royce head of marketing services, Alex Dulewicz, said that until now Rolls-Royce’s customer support system had been extremely “Derby-centric”, despite the fact that the installed engine base has increased from 3,354 in 2005 to 4,600 in 2015. It will reach an estimated 7,450 by 2025.

This growing list of customers requires faster response times to problems. They also want the engine maker to have greater accountability for managing and solving problems that do arise.

A major difficulty has been the working time zones between Singapore, other Asian hubs and the UK. Derby is between eight hours and 12 hours behind its Asia-Pacific customers. Asia-Pacific airlines reach, or have passed the end of their working day as Derby opened for business, explained Dulewicz.

To solve the problem, Rolls-Royce has placed regional teams in Customer Service Centres (CSCs) in Singapore, the Americas and Greater China. Singapore was the first to try out the new system, with engineering authority delegated to staff at its Rolls-Royce facility.

The localization customer support had resulted in “significant improvements in the level of responsiveness”, the company said. Singapore also positioned satellite “airline support teams” in eight other locations around the Asia-Pacific.

“In just 12 months, Singapore has improved customer issue resolution lead time by 65%,” Dulewicz said. Another factor that had improved relations with airlines was the development of greater cultural and linguistic empathy. Local teams speak the native language and understand how best to communicate with their local airline partners. Round-the-clock monitoring of engine problems worldwide, however, will continue to be handled at Derby.

The Trent 1000 engine facility in Singapore is running smoothly. The Rolls-Royce engine, said the country’s Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat, symbolized the significant progress made by the local aerospace industry. “It is indeed remarkable that Singapore, with no history in the manufacturing of aero engines, is being trusted by Rolls-Royce, one of the leaders in the aerospace industry, to deliver excellence.”

In addition to the assembly and testing of the engine, Rolls-Royce manufactures large fan blades and conducts research at its Seletar facility. Singapore is the regional headquarters for several of Rolls-Royce’s group functions. Together with its joint venture partners, it employs more than 2,500 people in Singapore.