Honeywell (NYSE: HON) has secured approval from the U.S. Army through a product verification audit and opened a state-of-the-art T55 Repair and Overhaul Center of Excellence facility near its Honeywell Aerospace headquarters in Phoenix.

Honeywell’s new Center of Excellence for T55 helicopter engine maintenance optimizes operations and enhances support for the U.S. Army and international customers. By co-locating the T55 engine’s engineering, production, repair and overhaul, Honeywell has significantly improved operating efficiencies and performance for many of its customers.

“Honeywell has expanded its world-class maintenance and repair organization in Phoenix to include T55 repair and overhaul,” said Dave Marinick, president, Engines and Power Systems, Honeywell Aerospace. “Our global Center of Excellence for the T55 engine allows us to grow our throughput to be two to three times our previous capacity to better support the U.S. Army and CH-47 Chinook helicopter fleets worldwide. Our organization is always focused on improving our support for today’s warfighters, and we are proud to roll out this transition as part of that commitment to the U.S. Army.”

This new facility benefits T55 customers by aligning the repair and overhaul activities for the engine with new engine production. This move creates a larger pool of Honeywell’s highly trained technicians who can share their knowledge to improve repair and overhaul turn times. Having these technicians co-located with the engineering team also allows for enhanced troubleshooting and direct feedback to help inform future product upgrades. Honeywell has also launched a supplier improvement initiative to ensure on-time delivery of materials to support the expanded capacity.

Honeywell’s T55 engine has supported the CH-47 Chinook helicopter for nearly 60 years. During that time, Honeywell has produced more than 6,000 T55 engines, which have logged about 12 million hours of operation.

There are over 900 CH-47 Chinook helicopters being operated today by various international and domestic military organizations, making the efficient and fast maintenance of the T55 engine a priority. The new location allows Honeywell to improve current support for T55 engines while preparing for surge capacity to ensure quick and flexible reactions to the needs of the U.S. Army and international customers.