Positive signs Zodiac Aerospace

POSITIVE SIGNS

Zodiac Aerospace is a French aerospace group that is a global leader in the design and supply of integrated interior aircraft cabins, galleys and on-board safety systems. The company continues to achieve double digit growth thanks to its continuous investment in state-of-the-art plant. This is particularly true in the Czech Republic, where its facility specialises in the manufacture of integrated galleys for aircraft such as the Airbus A320, A330 and its wide bodied variant, the A380. Philip Yorke reports.

Zodiac Aerospace was founded in 1896 and today is among the world’s top companies specialising in the manufacture of aircraft interiors, equipment and systems. The Zodiac Aerospace Group employs over 35,000 people worldwide and was established in the Czech Republic in 2008. This was via its acquisition of Driessen Aerospace, a leading aircraft interiors company that had been operating one of its three manufacturing units in Plzen, Czech Republic since 2011. Following this important strategic acquisition, the company has benefited from strong growth and is now the sole supplier of galley systems for the Airbus 320 narrow bodied aircraft.

Currently Zodiac Galleys Europe employs around 1000 people in its engineering, supply-chain, manufacturing and assembly sectors and since 2011 has tripled in size and turnover.

Serving the world

Zodiac Galleys Europe serves virtually all the world’s airlines, as well as leasing companies and airframe manufacturers, and has gained global market leadership through its combination of product excellence and dedicated customer services. In addition, the company is acknowledged as a leader in design innovation and ultra-lightweight structures. Zodiac Galleys Europe’s highly automated production lines produce its well-known modular A320 Mayflex galleys, ACP SFE galleys, stowages, and partition walls, as well as A330 galleys and lower deck mobile crew rests.

The Zodiac Aerospace Group invests continuously in research and development and in close cooperation with Airbus has created an additional row of six seats for airline passengers, which has achieved a positive increase in airline operator revenues. The company operates a highly efficient supply chain that has been refined over many years and is therefore able to deliver a continuous, reliable and sustainable performance for its customers.

To a large extent, Zodiac Galleys Europe’s suppliers are composed of selected Czech component manufacturers. For example, the company works in close cooperation with Quitner & Simek for the manufacture of harnesses and electrical panels. This also provides a good example of how a supplier is encouraged to be involved at the initial development stage, and then right through testing to final implementation.

Defining today’s environmental protection

Zodiac Aerospace has defined a precise framework for the management of its environmental footprint, which applies to all aspects of its manufacturing and logistics operations. This involves a regular reporting and exchange of information between operational sites and elements in addition to involving other professionals in order to promote and disseminate best practice protocols.

The planned actions taken by the Zodiac Aerospace Group are designed to promote environmental protection across the board and come under two inter-connected structures: A global structure linked to ISO 10014, within which the group encourages its various manufacturing sites to deploy effective environmental management systems that meet the latest international standards. In the case where sites are already certified, they are obliged to continue to make further progress.

Local structures within the sites also commit to reducing their waste production and to recovering over 80 per cent of waste whilst in the process of recycling at least 45 per cent. In addition, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, in particular through the reduction of energy consumption and reducing its consumption of water is a company priority. These protocols are enshrined in a Health & Safety Environment Policy, which is monitored within a reporting system that continuously measures progress made.

In its lifecycle analysis of its products, the tool, ‘Eco-Design’ has been implemented by the company in several key entities and enables the environmental impact of a product to be proactively determined throughout its lifecycle. This valuable tool, encourages entities to select materials, parts and packaging based upon key environmental parameters, including reduced weight, recyclability and environmentally friendly dismantling.

A global perspective

Zodiac Aerospace and its affiliates have developed a global approach to sustainable development, by integrating performance, preservation of the environment, health & safety and personal wellbeing.

Today Zodiac Aerospace is facing more air transport challenges than ever before and this involves greater safety, more efficient and more environmentally friendly production processes and operations. This trend is marked with continuous demands for innovative solutions that not only reduce the environmental impact of its own operations but also, more broadly, that of air transport operations as a whole.

The Health, Safety & Environment Policy of Zodiac Aerospace is organised around three distinct pillars: 1, Environmental performance; 2, Health and Security performance; and 3, Industrial Risk Management. Since 2011 the company has been a founding member of the IAEG (International Aerospace Environmental Group) with the aim of helping companies involved in this sector to take better account of increasingly complex and stringent environmental constraints and thereby promote a common approach throughout the industry.

Revolutionary design

One of the company’s many innovative design solutions for aircraft interiors, has created a new benchmark in the reduction of maintenance costs and operational efficiency with a revolutionary new aircraft lavatory.

The Zodiac Aerospace ‘Revolution’ toilet offers operators significant benefits, including reduced weight, improved reliability and maintainability as well as more efficient overall airline operations and a better in-flight experience for travellers. The ‘Revolution’ is the world’s most advanced and efficient lavatory. It was developed inhouse by Zodiac Water & Waste Systems. The unique ‘Revolution’ toilet is designed to reduce troublesome toilet issues and maintenance costs, owing to its unique, innovative and modular design.

On February 7th 2018 Zodiac Aerospace Services announced that Singapore Airlines has selected the new ‘Revolution’ Toilet to retro-fit their Being 777 fleet. Bruno Delile, CEO of Zodiac Aerospace Services, said, “We are very proud that Singapore Airlines has our new ‘Revolution’ Toilet on its 777 fleet. This product has a very innovative modular design that leads to improved reliability and maintainability as well as reduced weight and lower maintenance costs.”

Delile added, “Furthermore, today all Airbus A320 CEO &NEO and A380 aircraft are now delivered line-fit with Zodiac Aeropsace’s ‘Revolution’ toilet. Major multi-platform operators have already started to implement the modification on their Boeing and Airbus fleets.”

Contracts signed to replace existing lavatories are covered by the company’s ‘Power By the Hour’ (PBH) maintenance programme over a 10-year period. n

For more details of Zodiac Aerospace’s latest innovative products and services visit: www.zodiacaerospace.com