Airbus transfers responsibility for quality control of long-range aircraft to Recaro Aircraft Seating

At the production sites in Schwaebisch Hall, Germany and Swiebodzin, Poland, qualified certifying staff from Recaro Aircraft Seating is now permitted to approve economy class, premium economy class as well as business class seats on behalf of Airbus. During the source inspection a comprehensive quality control is carried out to ensure that the products meet the specifications of the aircraft manufacturer and the airline customers. “We had already been authorized to carry out the source inspections for seats destined for the A318, A319, A320 and A321 short-range aircraft ourselves in January 2011. Now we have been able to achieve this for our long-range seats as well,” says Dr. Mark Hiller, Chief Executive Officer of Recaro Aircraft Seating. “This means that we are currently the only seat supplier worldwide authorized to do this.”

Airbus honors the high and consistent quality of the seats produced by the company: “Recaro Aircraft Seating has proven itself as a very reliable partner”, explains Yves Wahn, Supply Chain & Quality Operations Manager at Airbus. “Because of the very good performance through the years, we have now decided, in a second step, to waive the source inspections for Recaro long-range products.”

In Dr. Hiller’s view, this confirms the course that the company has taken: “Our mission is to be the best seat manufacturer from our customers’ perspective. That includes a zero-defect strategy in production.” For this reason, the company started an operations excellence initiative in 2007, the full effect of which has since come to fruition. “With our shopfloor management system, we have established a special leadership philosophy that helps us to recognize problems early and to solve them on a permanent basis,” says Mirjam Bruhns, Director Quality and Process Management at Recaro Aircraft Seating. “We have developed a culture that consistently improves leadership and communication: Thanks to the regular exchange of information within the company, we are able to recognize problems early, respond to deviations immediately, and implement solutions quickly.”