Airbus transfers complete responsibility for quality control of A380 seats to Recaro

Since January 2011, the company has carried out the final source inspections and approvals for seats in the Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 short range aircraft. In April 2013, Recaro Aircraft Seating was granted authorization to carry out supplier source inspections for the long haul seats it produces for the A330 and A340 aircraft. Dr. Mark Hiller, Chief Executive Officer of Recaro Aircraft Seating, said, very pleased by the decision: “With this delegation of responsibility for the approval of seats for the A380, approval for all of the economy-class-products that we supply to Airbus is now in our hands. This makes us not only the first Airbus supplier conducting supplier source inspection for the A380, but also the only aircraft seating supplier in the world given this authority for all of the products it supplies to Airbus.”

In what is known as a joint source inspection, a selection of CL3510 economy class seats intended for a Lufthansa A380 was inspected in Schwäbisch Hall on August 9, 2013 by both Airbus inspectors and a certifying staff team from Recaro. This is done to ensure that the product meets the requirements of the aircraft manufacturer and the customer airlines. In the future, this final approval process will be conducted solely by Recaro.

“Recaro Aircraft Seating has proven itself a very reliable partner for many years,” explained Yves Wahn, Supply Chain & Quality Operations Manager at Airbus after the successful completion of the oint source inspection. “We are pleased to be taking an additional important step in our cooperation through this transfer of responsibility for the quality of the A380 seats, a step that once again emphasizes the trust we place in Recaro.”

Mirjam Bruhns, Director Quality and Process Management at Recaro Aircraft Seating, also characterized the Airbus decision as a milestone: “Since 2007, through our Operations Excellence Initiative, we have been steadfastly pursuing our mission of becoming the best seat manufacturer from the perspective of our customers. Toward that end, we have developed a culture of continuous improvement of leadership, processes and communication. This makes it possible for us to recognize problems early and to respond immediately to deviations, with the goal of ensuring zero error production. This decision to authorize us to conduct supplier source inspections for A380 seats shows us that the customer has been watching this all very closely and has decided to honor our performance with his most important vote of confidence.”