Bernie Coleman's impromptu lecture on the importance of customer service and competition in the marketplace warms an aircraft owner's heart. As president and CEO of Superior Air Parts, Incorporated, Coleman preaches passionately about the need for improvements in piston engine parts and his desire to offer his products with an if-it-breaks-we'll-fix-it-at-no-charge warranty.
Coleman claims to have seen the light when he took his Lexus in for routine service. There, the dealer and shop manager fell all over themselves to ensure that he was satisfied with the service, gave him a new car to drive while his was in the shop, washed his car, and followed up to make sure that the service was satisfactory. "Why can't we do that in general aviation?" he asks rhetorically, to which aircraft owners and pilots shout: "Amen!"
Rather than just asking the question and wringing his hands while waiting for someone else to do it, Coleman plans to step up to the plate and at least try. When I visited his Dallas headquarters recently, Coleman laid out his plans for offering a new level of service for those who buy engines overhauled with parts from Superior Air Parts. But first a little background.
Starting in the early 1990s, Superior introduced its line of Millennium cylinders that, for the first time, competed head to head with Lycoming and Continental. Superior says that it engineered the Millennium cylinders to be more durable than those produced by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), beefing up the parts in certain areas and taking advantage of new metallurgy and manufacturing processes that resulted in what Superior believes is a superior part. This, of course, didn't sit well with the OEMs, who cried foul, threatened lawsuits, and ultimately lowered their prices on some parts that competed with Superior's. The company's success has spurred others to begin building new cylinders from scratch, giving aircraft owners even greater choices.
Over the years, Superior has gained a reputation for delivering on its promise of producing better parts, particularly cylinders. Initially, much of the evidence was anecdotal from a handful of engine shops. But today, with more than 50,000 cylinders in service and another 1,000 a month being produced, there is a body of evidence that supports Superior's claims about increasing cylinder life.
Among the users of Millennium cylinders is the Mesa Pilot Development Program, which is operated by Mesa Airlines. The school, located in Farmington, New Mexico, conducts all of its training in Beech A36 Bonanzas and Barons. A Beech 1900D airliner, the aircraft of choice for Mesa Airlines, is used for turboprop training.
As you might imagine, the Continental IO-550s in the piston airplanes take a real beating from the students, particularly those practicing takeoffs, landings, and emergency maneuvers. The original cylinders rarely made it to the 1,700-hour time before overhaul outlined by Continental. The school switched to Millennium cylinders in 1997 and now routinely sees the engines go to TBO with few problems, ac-cording to the school's maintenance chief.
An AOPA staff member has a set of six second-run cylinders from Mesa installed on one engine of a Beech Baron. The cylinders have only about 40 hours on them since overhaul. We'll report on their performance in a later issue.
To increase the longevity of its cylinders, Superior studied where the original cylinders were failing and then set about making improvements. To address cracks around spark plug and injector holes and the exhaust port wall, Superior engineers increased the metal thickness in those areas. The cylinder wall thickness was also increased. In addition, Superior uses through-hardened steel barrels that are designed to last several overhaul cycles. Traditionally, the barrels have a nitride coating that makes a hard lining, but one that can be worn away. Through-hardening creates a uniform hardness all the way through the steel walls.
Superior says that it improves cylinder cooling and head crack resistance by reducing the number of fins but increasing their thickness.
The most dramatic change from the OEM parts comes in the way the cylinder heads are cast. The original manufacturers cast their cylinder heads in sand, a process older than internal combustion itself. Superior has chosen to manufacture its cylinder heads by using investment castings, which is also known as the lost-wax method. It's a complicated and expensive process, but one that results in heads with much smoother and more uniform surfaces than those cast in sand. The process also results in fewer of the internal voids that can lead to cracking when under stress.
The result is a cylinder that is almost lovely to look at. Even right from the mold and before detailed milling, the surfaces are mirror smooth. There is a price for this beauty and the expensive casting process. Millennium cylinders are now often more expensive than OEM cylinders.
Over the years, Superior has expanded its product line from cylinders to, among some engine models, virtually every part in the engine except the crank-case. There are even some Superior engines flying on experimental aircraft. They are engines built almost entirely of new Superior parts. While the FAA approves each of Superior's parts individually, combining those approved parts into an engine does not create a certified engine, according to the feds.
Parts manufacturing represents only one side of Superior. The company has another division, called Superior Distribution, which supplies engine shops with a host of products from many manufacturers — everything from tires and brakes to starters, vacuum pumps, and light bulbs.
But Coleman's greatest challenge these days is the establishment of a network of engine shops that will specialize in Superior overhauls, a task that differs considerably from his duties a year ago when he was first promoted to president as the company emerged from a period of bankruptcy. As such things go, this was a short bankruptcy — only about six months. Superior is now owned by an investment group that seems willing to invest in what it sees as a company with a lot of potential. Coleman says the company's future is in the manufacturing and distribution of parts for piston-powered aircraft. A division specializing in turbine engine parts was spun off several years ago.
So far, 12 shops in the United States and 25 internationally have signed up for Superior's new network of engine overhaulers. Coleman says that the shops must be willing to focus on customer service. He wants those taking their aircraft to a Superior shop to receive the same level of service that he receives at the Lexus dealer. He currently is testing a plan to offer a complete no-questions-asked warranty for all Superior parts through TBO. A cargo operator in the Northeast is flying engines overhauled with Superior parts. Coleman is evaluating the warranty service on that fleet to see if he can expand it to the entire marketplace. If so, any owner of an engine overhauled at a Superior-approved shop will be able to receive service at any other such shop. And any part that needs replacing prior to the established TBO will be replaced at no charge.
But what about the pilot who shock cools his engine, runs it too lean, or just generally abuses it? "Our parts can take it," says Coleman. Sure, he says, there will be a need to replace some parts because of poor pilot operating habits, but the shop will simply counsel the pilot on the best way to operate the engines and hope that is the end of it. This is a bit of a change in philosophy for Superior. There was a time as recently as the bankruptcy when Superior, like other such companies, found it easier in some cases to stall and nitpick customer complaints about problem parts.
Not once during his sermon on service does Coleman suggest that his products will always be the lowest in cost. The initial purchase price may or may not be less expensive than that offered by others. But Coleman is convinced that in the long term his products will offer a better value because the customer will see less downtime and spend less on repairs.
In the end, all pilots and aircraft owners stand to gain as aggressive companies like Superior push the manufacturing and service envelopes, forcing other suppliers to get on board or get out of the way.
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