Global Hawk
UAW-Built Engine Powers American Reconnaissance

Story by Mike Rosenbaum

It can fly thousands of miles, using its UAW-built engine, then spend a day photographing car-sized objects from over 60,000 feet in the air--through clouds, in any weather, night or day. It continually sends high-resolution images back to its base and then returns, without refueling. It does all this, and more, without a pilot.

This is the Global Hawk, the world’s most advanced unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle, which made its operational debut during the Afghan campaign last fall.

Hand-Crafted Quality
The Global Hawk’s AE3007H turbofan engines are “all hand-built” by Local 933 members working at Rolls Royce’s Indianapolis facility, explains engine assembler Robert Emerson.

Local 933 members build the Hawk’s engines, as well as engines for a variety of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, both military and civilian. They also play a key role in determining how the engines are built, thanks to an employee suggestion program, plus the Manufacturing Systems Engineering program which was negotiated into their most recent contract.

George Rolhmaller courtesy of U.S.. Air Force

The Global Hawk en route to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., after a 24-hour mission to Alaska and back.

Under the MSE program, members meet with engineers and other salaried workers to “discuss how the department should work,” explains shop chairman Bob Woodcock. MSE participants decide how jobs should be performed and what types of tools and equipment the company should purchase. It also provides members with cross-training on many different types of jobs.

The program has “reduced time and cost on most products and allowed us to better compete in the market,” Woodcock adds.

Chris Carter, who helped design the MSE program, says “the cross-training allows you to be more versatile. You can work anywhere in assembly doing anything on the entire engine.”

Constant Training
“We used to train people and say, ‘OK, now they’re suited to work in the industrial life forever,’” Woodcock says. “Today’s world changes so quickly that we’re in a constant state of training...Different engines we make require different machining techniques, different assembly, different quality checks.”

Employees whose cost-saving suggestions are implemented receive 20 percent of the first $100,000 in total savings, for a maximum award of $20,000. An additional 5 percent is put in a general fund that offers members further incentives to make suggestions. In 2000, workers who submitted suggestions were eligible to win prizes which included a Chevy truck and a Ford Taurus.

Among the $20,000 award winners is quality inspector John Wales. He designed a cover to protect turbine wheel parts from handling damage, which previously cost the company “about $300,000 a year,” Wales says.

Carter shared a $20,000 award when he designed a turbine that increased a helicopter engine’s horsepower by 15 percent.

According to Rolls Royce, worker suggestions produced more than $6.8 million in savings last year and over $8.3 million in 2000. Local 933’s employee involvement also helped the Global Hawk earn aviation’s highest prize, the National Aeronautical Association’s Collier Trophy, in 2000.

A Sense of Pride
Building the Global Hawk’s engines “gives us a sense of pride,” Woodcock says. “You know you’re playing a part in the effort of our country and our world.”

“We’re very proud of that,” adds Wales “and we always feel like when we send an engine out the door it’s going to do what it’s supposed to do, because it’s so reliable.”

The Global Hawks currently in use are developmental models that were rushed into service specifically for the Afghan campaign. The first official production models are scheduled for delivery later this year or in 2003. The first 18 Global Hawks will be based at Beale Air Force Base in California.