Nine months into his tenure as president and CEO of Robinson Helicopter Co., David Smith is showing no signs of fatigue in his mission to evolve the manufacturer and push it into new territory.
Indeed, Smith seems to have barely paused for breath since he was announced as just the third leader — and first non-Robinson — of the storied helicopter company in March this year.
The ensuing months have seen the company acquire uncrewed aircraft systems manufacturer Ascent Aerosystems, announce a collaboration with Unither Bioelectronics to support development of a hydrogen-electric helicopter, continue certification efforts for the company’s redesigned empennage, bolster its workforce, and embark on an extensive new marketing and outreach campaign.
From an outside perspective, it has seemed that the pace of change and development at Robinson under Smith’s tenure has been incredibly rapid.
“If you typically work with me, this is my normal speed — this is just the way that life is for me. I have a lot in my mind,” Smith told Vertical in an interview during Robinson’s appearance at the European Rotors trade show in Amsterdam. “If you’ve ever been in a situation where you were restricted due to bureaucracy or competing priorities, and then you’re an environment where you don’t have those restrictions, you will move fast, too. And I think that’s one of the things that’s really nice about this [position at Robinson], is that we have the benefit of a really supportive board, [and] a really supportive leadership team.”
Smith also referenced the network of more than 400 Robinson dealers and service centers — and the “huge capacity” of Robinson’s factory — in enabling the company’s rapid development.
The industry reception to the evolution at Robinson has been “very supportive,” added Smith. But he noted that the direction the company is heading may require changes from its dealers and service centers, too – something he acknowledged may not be universally popular. For example, Robinson has started putting more pressure on dealers and service centers to ensure they provide third-party servicing and are providing the level of service customers expect.
“If dealers are doing really great things, I want to share those best practices across the network,” he said. “If people are not liking our dealers, I need to rehab them or exit them. That’s why we’re getting into a stage where there’s probably more controversial questions like that… [but] they have to happen, though.”
Europe is home to an estimated 20 to 25 percent of the global Robinson fleet. The company’s inaugural appearance at European Rotors was part of an effort to grow the manufacturer’s presence in the region — particularly in relation to the regulator, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) — and to bolster its support and services there.
“We’re an unknown or a lesser-known player to EASA, so we really want to be closer, we want to be more trusted, we want to be a part of the community here,” said Smith. “Part of the [reason for] being here is to make sure that people understand who we are and what we’re all about. . . . The other practical side of it is Europe’s one of our bigger markets, and there’s still a lot more we can do.”
An aging customer base — for Robinson and the wider industry — is a particular concern for Smith, who believes many of the younger would-be rotary-wing industry entrants are being pulled instead to the nascent eVTOL sector.
“When I go around Europe, Europe tells me more than anywhere else that we have not done a great job the last two decades of recruiting the youngest that will form the foundation of [the helicopter industry],” he said. “I think that’s a failure of our industry. We have to go and be more active and cater to that group. Understand [what] appeals to them about the product, and then try to do some improvements to ours to come their way.”
Smith noted the impact of Hill Helicopters — the startup U.K. manufacturer who aims to build and certify an affordable next generation light single helicopter airframe and engine, with a primary target of private pilots.
“They have shown us there’s things we need to do better, and we’re going to pay attention and listen to that,” said Smith. “We’ll obviously respond.”
Industry challenges
One of the main challenges facing Smith on assuming the role — and one that’s present across the industry — is in finding the staff to achieve his ambitions. Robinson had under 900 employees when Smith first joined the company about 18 months ago. Today, it has about 1,275 — not far off his current target of around 1,300.
The additional staff are required in subassembly and final assembly. “Those are our two areas that interject volatility in my production,” said Smith. “We’ve been promoting people from within to turn them into final assembly mechanics, [and] we’ve really, I think, conquered all of the gearbox and the servo dependencies. We’re building more than the production team needs and more than the support needs at the long-term run rate. So, we’re closing out all the backlog on tail rotor gear boxes, main rotor gear boxes and servos.”
The company, Smith argued, has always been progressive in terms of managing its supply chain — using its in-house expertise and capabilities to in-source as much as possible. It’s a path Smith continues to walk down.
“We added one process this year, [and] we probably have another one next year,” he said. “These things are continued investments in people, continued investments in equipment, and if you do that right, then you won’t have supply chain disruptions, you won’t have quality escapes, [and] you’ll have your stuff well taken care of.”
It was the production capacity at the factory, as well as the expertise of the Robinson workforce, that meant the purchase of drone manufacturer Ascent AeroSystems made sense.
Founded in 2015, Ascent has a portfolio of three coaxial helicopter drones, essentially built around a modular tube, that can be launched from the air, ground or sea.
“Robinson is a helicopter company, Ascent is a helicopter company — so there was a nice overlap with what we do,” said Smith. “Someone has to be able to produce dependable aviation grade sUAS [small unmanned aerial systems] that meet a pedigree that can handle all the winds that the world gives you and all the wet the world gives you. That’s what these things can do. They’re built for that.”
In addition to the standalone benefits of adding a UAS manufacturer to its portfolio to meet that growing, Smith said the interoperability of manned and unmanned assets together had the potential to “really unlock a lot of value for operators” — either in the military or parapublic space.
One of the major production challenges this year has been in delivering the retrofit kits for the redesigned empennage, which is intended to reduce the likelihood of mast bumping. Announced just over a year ago and now certified for use across the Robinson product line, the company has delivered about 700 retrofit kits, in addition to about 250 new-build aircraft equipped with the new empennage.
“One thousand aircraft out of a fleet of 10,500 is pretty good, but 10 percent is not where we hope to end it,” said Smith, adding that the company is extending a special pricing offer through the end of next year to incentivise further uptake.
