Editor’s note:
The following is a guest post by Tony Velocci, former Editor in Chief, Aviation Week & Space Technology, as relayed to our Aerospace and Defense industry expert Ellen Mondro, who will be sharing scenes from Dassault Systèmes presence at the upcoming Paris Air Show. Last month, Embraer announced its 100th Phenom family jet had been produced in its Melbourne, Florida plant with the help of Dassault Systèmes 3D solutions. To commemorate this production milestone, read Tony’s first-hand impressions of the Phenom 100 and interview with Embraer’s President & CEO.
Flying on a Phenom 100 Jet, Part 1: Fringe Benefits of Interviewing Embraer’s President & CEO
By Tony Velocci
Embraer President and CEO Fred Curado can speak firsthand to what it means to experience the “famous loneliness”—his words—of being a chief executive. The year was 2008. He had been on the job for less than a year when his instincts began telegraphing the onset of serious trouble. As it turned out, a global recession loomed just ahead. Curado reflected on that gut-wrenching period when I visited him last year at Embraer’s U.S. headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
We covered a lot of other ground too, but it was that experience heading into the financial crisis of 2008-2009 that seemed to resonate the most with him. It wasn’t the first crisis Curado had ever faced, but this one was different. He had to react firmly and quickly, knowing what was at stake. To say that it was a profound lesson for him would be an understatement. (Ed Note: You can read more about how the experience played out for Curado personally and professionally, and why it left such an impression, in the Dassault Systèmes Q&A Leadership Series.)
As editor-in-chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine, I had the privilege of interviewing Curado numerous times in various parts of the world. Affable and open, he is one of the most self-effacing CEOs I ever encountered. That’s a powerful combination—humility and power—and Curado embodies it to a ‘T.’ Many of the sessions I’ve had with CEOs have felt like interviews. Not so with Curado. My sit-down with him was not so much an interview as a conversation, which is what made the information he shared all the more insightful.
Not surprisingly, he is tremendously proud of what Embraer has been able to achieve in its relatively short life. It was only founded in 1969 and now ranks as the world’s third largest airframe manufacturer, behind Airbus and Boeing. In our discussion, Curado also talked about what he believes differentiates Embraer from its competitors—its ability to identify a market niche and fill it.
A great example is the Phenom 100, one of the most successful lite jets ever conceived. In an earlier visit with Curado and his senior management team at the company’s headquarters in Sao Jos dos Campos, Brazil, I was treated to a flight in the aircraft, a favorite among pilot-entrepreneurs. Seated in the cockpit, I never was quite able to wipe the grin off my face from takeoff to touchdown. The aircraft was incredibly responsive, much like a track car on a twisting road course, if you’ve ever felt the adrenalin rush of that experience. But unlike the feeling of flying in other small business jets, the Phenom 100 felt solid. I had only one regret when we landed: the thrill of experiencing this amazing piece of aeronautical ingenuity was over.
An excerpt of Tony’s full interivew with Embraer President and CEO Fred Curado is below:
Embraer has been widely viewed as a disruptive force in the marketplace ever since the company became a player in the business aviation segment in 2000, with the introduction of the Legacy 600 jet. What differentiates Embraer from its competitors?
Boldness, one of our core values, has a lot to do with what you are talking about. We have a very good process for identifying market opportunities and developing products absolutely customized to meet a set of market requirements at an extremely competitive price point vis-a-vis our competition. Of course, it takes more than just knowing what to do. You also must have the ability to do it well. Examples include our Tucano military, trainer, KC390 military transport aircraft, and Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 jets. In recent years, in particular, we have evolved tremendously in terms of our quality, production efficiency and engineering prototyping.
Are you seeing a change in customer expectations?
Very much so, especially among our airline customers who face survival issues. Their expectations for quality are much higher, and their operations have become more complex, which puts original equipment manufacturers under greater pressure to deliver on those expectations. We’re also seeing growing sophistication among business jet customer, who are demanding higher levels of quality, performance and reliability, and they want more technology. They do not expect to pay $30 million for a business aircraft and then get stuck because of reliability issues.
In your 30-year career at Embraer, is there a personal experience that had a profound lesson?
In my career there have been several times when I have learned it is far better to anticipate problems than to hope they just go away. They only get worse. I’ll give you one example. In 2008, we started seeing signs that there could be a financial crisis in the making, although we had no idea how deep it could become.
As it became clearer that serious problems were in the making, we evaluated the potential impact on Embraer and shared our assessment with customers, government officials and other stakeholders. Then we reduced the size of the company by more than 20%. That action was one of the worst things we had to do. Politicians and many other people tried to second-guess us. They asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Six months later the answer was very, very clear. I have learned both ways—having done it right and having done it wrong—that it is far better to get red early on than to get purple later when the problem will have become exponentially more difficult. Shrinking the size of the company was the right decision, but it was a lonely one.”
To continue reading Tony Velocci’s full interview with Embraer President and CEO Frederico Curado, please visit our Global Leaders Conversations Series
Dassault Systèmes and Embraer have a long history of using advanced digital manufacturing technology to reduce the costs of manufacturing and eliminate assembly errors in its Phenom jets. Embraer has been using a complete Systèmes 3D solution for the design and manufacturing of its Phenom and Legacy 500 executive jets at its Melbourne, Florida and São José dos Campos, Brazil plants. Embraer Executive Jets announced in April 2015 that it has produced its 100th Phenom family jet from its Melbourne plant, just over three years after the first aircraft rolled off its facility’s assembly line. To learn more about how Dassault Systèmes is using 3D simulation and Product Lifecycle Management to revolutionize air travel, visit our Aerospace & Defense industry solution center. Stay tuned for more coverage of the 2015 Paris Air Show in the coming weeks!
*Aircraft images courtesy of Embraer
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