People and Innovation – the FBSG story

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Mankind’s journey into aviation first began in 1903 when the Wright brothers took to the air with the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. Since then, the aviation industry has evolved significantly. Similarly, Rolls-Royce's Fan Blade Singapore (FBSG) facility started its journey in 2012, with the first set of fan blades manufactured within the company’s Seletar Campus.

Over the years, FBSG has continued to evolve, and is now Rolls-Royce's leading manufacturing facility for its hollow titanium wide chord fan blades. Skilled engineering staff produce high-specification precision fan blades for Rolls-Royce Trent engines including the Trent 1000, 7000 and XWB models that power the Airbus A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 respectively. FBSG currently produces 4,800 fan blades per year with today’s demand.

Always progressing

Always progressing

Since its inception a decade ago, FBSG has never stopped growing – it has unceasingly improved processes, streamlined cross-disciplinary workflows, adopted new technologies, and focused on people development to raise performance levels.

To improve the efficiency of its manufacturing process, FBSG embarked on a digitalisation journey by leveraging robotics, automation and data analytics. These include intelligent automation of processes, advanced repair and smart manufacturing methods, as well as factory simulation capabilities which increase productivity and accuracy.

Repetitive, manual and high-risk processes have mostly been automated to enhance employee safety and increase ‘right-first-time’ rates. Concurrently, digital systems have been adopted to collect data sets to quantify results and identify opportunities for further improvement.

People first

While these technologies have improved the production process over time, FBSG’s digitalisation journey is not only about enhancing manufacturing capabilities and production volume. To keep employees motivated and help them build a meaningful career, we are committed to building a workplace centred around employee recognition, care, development, and purpose so that they can be their best.

We want to make sure every colleague feels appreciated and recognised. For example, our colleagues at FBSG have received the firm’s global awards for People Engagement, Safety & Quality, Cost and Delivery, for four consecutive years – a strong testament to the team’s dedication and outstanding results.

Our culture also strongly encourages a ‘Speak Up’ approach. Whenever any colleague has an idea on products and processes, the door is always open. Rolls-Royce’s ‘Speak Up’ culture encourages employees to raise questions or issues to a leader or a subject matter expert. All concerns are heard and addressed in strict confidence through this feedback platform.

Health and well-being of our staff is a key priority at Rolls-Royce. FBSG has a “Performance Through Our People” (PTOP) team dedicated to organising recreational and social activities for all employees. Through such sessions, colleagues celebrate each other’s traditional and cultural festivals, do charity work, learn new skills, or just have fun together, playing sports or taking part in team events. While many of these activities could not take place in-person during the pandemic, the PTOP team continued to actively engage colleagues through virtual activities including online team bonding games and festive celebrations. These activities keep colleagues connected with each other amidst remote work, building morale and camaraderie.

One highly enjoyable activity was an online hydroponics class initiated by one of our managers. It was a hobby he picked up while working remotely during the pandemic, deepening his knowledge and enthusiasm over time. He showed colleagues how to grow an entire watermelon plant with fruit within his high-rise apartment! Despite the class being conducted virtually, it was highly interactive and engaging, growing into a lively hydroponics chat group where colleagues continued sharing personal updates of home hydroponics experiments.

During the difficult COVID period, care and concern for colleagues came to the fore. When some colleagues at FBSG were severely affected by border closures, Rolls-Royce Singapore found hotel accommodation for those who chose to remain in Singapore and extended support to those who couldn’t return to Singapore. Such initiatives have helped reduced anxiety and uncertainty for colleagues during the crisis, enabling them to remain focused on giving their best at work.

Growing with us

As the industry recovers, FBSG is positioning itself for growth in production rates for Trent XWB-97K engines and returning widebody load. To achieve these goals, we need to hire skilled employees.

FBSG has a well-designed Career Development Framework, where different roles and criteria at each level are clearly communicated to employees. It is a source of pride when our employees gain new skills and expertise through carefully designed training and development programmes and progress up the ranks to more senior roles in their chosen career path. Interns also have a chance to rotate across functions which help them to better understand their interests and fit before moving into a permanent role. Today, we are proud that many executives and management at FBSG have been with the company for a long period of time.

For current employees, we are excited to have them walk alongside Rolls-Royce as we continue to upgrade our operations to meet future needs of aerospace. For example, to help staff upgrade their skills in response to digitalisation of the industry, FBSG staff attended a two-day customised course at Singapore Polytechnic to learn about advanced manufacturing in the digital era.

“As we upgrade the facility, we need to upgrade our people to make sure they can manage the digital aspects, so I work with local tertiary institutions to develop upskilling courses for our people,” Kenneth Lee, Head of Manufacturing Technology (Fan Blade Singapore) said.

“We also facilitate cross-learning across different functions. This helps develops more well-rounded individuals proficient in interdisciplinary skills,” he added.

The future

As we continue to invest in our people and celebrate the achievements of our diverse workforce, we acknowledge the importance of establishing a purposeful culture, so employees find their work personally fulfilling.

Sustainability is one aspect employees are increasingly concerned about. As we manufacture precision fan-blades to develop increasingly fuel-efficient engines, we are excited to share our sustainability vision and goals. On this front, Rolls-Royce Singapore has committed to aggressive goals in achieving net carbon zero operations by 2030. Although our FBSG production facility requires high energy consumption, we are determined to find sustainable solutions through facility improvements, optimising our operations and exploring renewable energy generation options.

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Rolls-Royce develops and delivers complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land.