In 2007, the Liebherr-Aerospace office in Seattle started as a core team of three people to support the 747-8 Environmental Control System. This year the team counts 11 highly specialised team members and is celebrating the first flight of Boeing’s latest aircraft, the Boeing 777X.
Despite the fact that the office is called “Liebherr Seattle office”, the location is de facto in Everett, WA. Since 2009, the team is led by general manager Dietmar Klauber.
“Our liaison office functions as an interface between Boeing and Liebherr-Aerospace OEM sites in Lindenberg and Toulouse”, explains Klauber the mission and vision of this office. “We are thus ensuring a high proximity between both companies during on-going as well as possible future aircraft programs. We are able to provide Boeing with a high level of support and reactivity, meeting the requirements of all present programs.”
Today, the office hosts a team of 11 employees, who interact daily with Boeing engineers. Bernhard Bauer works for Liebherr since 1999 and in Seattle since 2009. He is one of the liaison engineers and leading the engineering team in the Liebherr office.
“Not only do we need to have the necessary technical and product knowledge, we also need to master soft skills – such as understanding cultural differences, effective problem solving, ability to prioritize tasks, and interact with all levels of stakeholders”, states Bauer.
With each product having its own dedicated liaison engineer, this office structure yields vast product knowledge and expertise. For example, there is a dedicated engineer to the 747-8 air conditioning and Environmental Control Systems (ECS), there is another engineer dedicated to the 777X folding wing tip, and the list goes on. With each engineer responsible for specific systems, accountability, problem resolution and communications between Boeing’s staff and Liebherr-Aerospace’s OEM facilities staff become very effective and streamlined.
While having the future in mind, the team is preparing to master the latest quality methodologies, such as APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) and MBSE (Model Based Systems Engineering). “Our aim is to constantly strive to even better support our customer and meet their expectations”, comments Klauber. “Expanding our business from the civil aviation sector into the military arena could be a possibility.”
Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS, Toulouse (France), is one of 11 divisional control companies within the Liebherr Group and coordinates all activities in the aerospace and transportation systems sectors.
