People Behind the Product

Can you give me an overview of Honeywell’s involvement with Mechanical Components?

We have a global presence when it comes to manufacturing mechanical components. For example, we have fuel controls being made in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, heat exchangers out of Torrance, California and those same products out of Yeovil, England. Tempe manufactures many valves and air turbine start systems.

Our mechanical components are found on almost every type of aircraft. We provide valves and air turbine start systems for our own engines, as well as other engine providers for airlines. Mechanical components range from anti-ice valves, bleed valves, environmental control systems (which are the things that control if it’s cool or warm in an airplane), and ozone converters (the parts that help provide oxygen when you’re 36,000 feet in the air).

What do you find rewarding about the work you’re doing?

I always find the strategic things we do on the business team rewarding. In my current assignment, I’m helping support our supply chain due to my experience in operations as well as being a Site Leader.

There is something rewarding about being in supply chain and touching the parts and processes that help us ship faster or with better quality. Understanding how that all manifests itself in our bottom line and makes this the great company that it is is what drives me and drives many other people, for that matter. In supply chain, you get to see the direct results of the products you touch, and that is rewarding.

What makes working with our mechanical components so exciting?

Our components touch almost every system on the aircraft. We’re always improving our technology to come up with solutions for our customers’ needs. We have great technologies enabled by a great engineering organization.

When I was Site Leader at Tempe, one of the things we did every day was talk to employees on the shop floor about the parts they worked on and how critical their work was to the aircraft. Seeing the pride and ownership of everyone that works on these products that play such an important role in aviation at large is impressive.

Is there anything else that you wanted to add?

There’re a lot of good people at Honeywell: from the folks at the factory, the folks in the functions, to the leadership team. The people are what drive me to come in and help break down barriers by leveraging the things I’ve learned during my time here at Honeywell. It’s a great company. We have excellent business offerings and great technology, and it’s exciting to be part of that.