EADS Global Website - The Great Craftsmen

Innovation

“I’m something of a jack-of-all-trades, I know my job well and my task is to teach the younger generation, just like other people taught me. It is something I really enjoy doing!” A champion of knowledge transfer, Jacques Verraux is an exemplary mentor of young metal workers at Eurocopter’s Marignane site.

Thanks to his great skill, he is able to carry out these repairs directly on the affected part without having to remove it from the helicopter, saving the many hours of labour required to manufacture new components to replace the damaged ones. As a result of his unique talent, Verraux won the ‘Meilleur Ouvrier de France’ (Best Worker in France) award in 2004 and was named the Great Craftsman at the 2009 EADS Hall of Fame event.

The Great Craftsman 2009: Jacques Verraux

Video

An unique expertise

Increasing use of composite materials and the new design of metallic parts decrease the need for sheet metal work for aircraft and helicopter manufacturing. Nevertheless there are always cases where sheet metal work is the only solution. On average, between 50 to 60 times per year, the FAL (final assembly lines) or other business units (within the Marignane facility) ask for Verraux's help and expertise when they encounter an unpredictable situation. On a regular basis, Eurocopter’s Engineering validates his proposals for repair work, and even ask him for advices in some complicated cases.

Verraux's talent improves on-time delivery and quality, thereby boosting customer satisfaction. He can even take care of certain customisation needs by himself; instead of using specific tooling which would generate delays and extra costs, he is able to carry out his work with his bare hands. Such a level of expertise is very rare and provides Eurocopter with an enlarged transformation capability. Verraux is pushing the limits of this material transformation as far as possible.