Consultants have long recommended consolidation in the aerospace supply chain, especially in the aftermarket. By acquiring Goodrich Corp. in July 2012, United Technologies Corp. (UTC) moved in the recommended direction. But acquisition by itself is just a rearrangement of numbers on a ledger. Reaping the potential efficiency gains requires hard work to integrate newly acquired assets effectively.
Another kind of investment relates to but is not the same as investment in new-model support. LHT recently announced it will put €200 million ($276 million) into innovation and research over the next four years. The commitment should improve LHT’s overall capabilities on both legacy aircraft that show up in shops more frequently than new models and on new types that pose novel challenges.
