October 22, 2019

Your 2019 Leadership Award Recipients

The 2019 Pratt & Whitney Leadership Awards was a celebration of teams that helped our company Go Beyond for our customers, shareholders and employees.

Incoming President Chris Calio and the Executive Committee hosted the ceremony, and entrepreneur and U.S. Navy SEAL Alden Mills delivered a keynote address about the power of teamwork.

This year more than 200 Leadership Awards nominees were narrowed down to 38 finalists and the eventual 13 award recipients.

Click here to watch a replay of the show.

Congratulations to all the finalists and award recipients.

Leadership Award recipients:

Start with Safety EH&S Award

TOS Hazardous Waste

Turbine Overhaul Services experienced increasing hazardous waste disposal from 2015 to 2017, causing the site to miss environmental goals and increasing waste disposal costs. The team reviewed waste disposal data and focused waste reduction efforts on the top six wastes. Using a combination of improvements in instrumentation control, new treatment equipment and standard work, they reduced hazardous waste by 51%, improved the recycling ratio to 94% and reduced disposal costs by 58%.

Empower Our People Award

Amercon's Shop Floor Management Team

In response to employee feedback, the Amercon Shop Floor Management Team was given a general manager’s intent to create a simple and effective management structure that improves communication and understanding throughout the facility and fosters teamwork and empowerment throughout the organization while measuring key process inputs and outputs. The team developed a structured management system that encourages open communication and embraces early problem identification, escalation and rapid resolution. The system ensures daily tiered management standard work that is aligned with shop floor production requirements and is supported with appropriate performance indicators.

Lead with Integrity Award

PW150A No. 29 Bearing Campaign – Execution

This campaign was flawlessly executed despite several challenges such as the original repair standard procedure lead time of 55 days, shop capacity to handle the surge of engines and the overall customer experience impact. The team developed an alternate method that could be executed, on-wing, by a mobile repair team leading to a one-day turnaround time, reducing significantly aircraft downtime while quickly improving engine reliability which are two main customer satisfaction drivers. This new method also brought a significant cost avoidance for Pratt & Whitney and ultimately the associated benefits to the targeted customers.

Be Dependable Award

East Hartford Tank Farm

In June 2018, a new tank farm for X-7/X-8 Jet Engine Test went online. The project was successfully completed by a joint Test Operations and Test Systems Engineering team on time, on budget and with no impact on engine testing.

Engineer for Quality Award

BU8200 Team - 100% MRP on PW1100G

On March 27, 2019, BU8200 attained 100% MRP (material requirements planning) on the four part numbers it produces for the 30K A320neo program.

Own Our Story Award

Binter Canarias Sales Team

The Binter Canarias campaign focus team leveraged the newly released “Commercial Engines Small Fleet Playbook” to help win the Binter Canarias E195-E2 campaign in the fourth quarter of 2018. In doing so, the team became the first to successfully use the structural and pricing strategies contained within the playbook to secure future business for Pratt & Whitney. The team accomplished this while exceeding the expectations of our airline and airframe customers. As a result of this team’s efforts, future campaign focus teams now have a solid foundation from which to begin when approaching smaller regional jet campaigns. Additionally, Pratt & Whitney has added yet another great customer in Binter Canarias to our ever growing portfolio of GTF operators.

Drive Profitability Award

Cutting Edge

Turbine Overhaul Services has been experiencing high turnbacks of cracked knife-edge seals on low pressure turbine blades after manual weld restoration. This has resulted in wasted resources repairing the blades which would eventually be scrapped downstream of the repair due to the nature of the process. After evaluating the root cause and available options, TOS implemented automated laser cladding technology, which is capable of precisely controlling the weld parameters and results in a more repeatable and robust process, drastically reducing the potential for cracking after weld. In-process yield improved from 31% to 90%, which translates to an additional $422,000 in sales annually. Currently, TOS has saved more than 1,000 parts, worth $3.1 million, in new blade replacement cost for our customers.

Luke Hobbs Technology & Innovation Award

Small Attritable Engine Unitization via Additive Manufacturing

The Small Attritable Engine Unitization via Additive Manufacturing team established and executed a "design for additive manufacturing" project that used the TJ150-1 engine as the demonstrator platform. They focused on enhancing product capabilities through part count reduction, innovative design and system-level performance, and additively manufactured the entire static hot section of the TJ150-1 engine replacing two castings, several sheet metal components, the fuel manifold, and multiple joining operations. This resulted in a 99% part count reduction. The team then conducted extensive ground level engine testing. If implemented, this approach has the potential to save more than 10% of the total material cost of the TJ150 engine.

Pratt & Whitney ACE Award

APU/Turbojet Bid & Proposal Process Improvement Team

The APU/Turbojet Bid and Proposal Process Improvement Team improved a critical process for the auxiliary power unit and turbojet business, taking it from delivering delinquent proposals and running over budget to delivering on-time and below budget. The team implemented an agile process to facilitate greater cooperation and collaboration.

Leadership Awards

Amercon's Machine Tool Services Team

The Amercon Machine Tool Services Department reinvigorated and propelled the preventative maintenance program by systematically developing a robust inspection system. Each month the team assembled to review work order histories, known inspection gaps, and manufacturing technical data to build a comprehensive task list for a particular machine family. They also implemented a coordinated maintenance scheduling tool to align maintenance teams across all departments and identify and capitalize on downtime. With 682 pieces of equipment across a wide variety of machines, the team built a "machine knowledge database" to address knowledge gaps, so anyone can research to help speed repairs.

The Puck Stops Here

Dallas Airfoil Repair Operations experienced a full work stoppage due to cathodic arc cathodes (called pucks because of their similar appearance to a hockey puck) exploding inside of the cathodic arc coaters. This problem was also experienced at Turbine Overhaul Services and in the Hot Section Module Center, affecting both Aftermarket and OEM production. The team identified the root cause, fixed it with a simple, cheap and readily available spacer, and continued further to increase the efficiency and safety of the cathodic arc processes. This new process saves approximately $388,000 yearly in puck and shielding costs and produces 192% of the parts with no additional energy expenditure.

Empower Ability Employee Resource Group

Founded in 2016, the Empower Ability Employee Resource Group is passionate in creating an inclusive culture for individuals with different abilities through education, awareness and talent development. In less than 20 months, membership has grown nearly three times, employee activities by four times, and its members have made a profound impact speaking up and for visible and invisible disabilities.

Vietnam Airlines GTF AOG Rescue in Lahore

This team accomplished an unprecedented aircraft recovery of an aircraft on ground during delivery flight, in a remote location, and with no in-country presence in Pakistan. The task was further complicated by regional geopolitical tensions. The team overcame ethics and compliance and employee safety with a cross-functional approach that included the customer, five companies, 17 Pratt & Whitney organizations, and over 50 Pratt & Whitney and UTC employees. The Lahore recovery effort took 37 days on-site in Pakistan plus 14 days at the customer base, and required relentless leadership.