According to
The Financial Times, there is growing concern that capacity issues in the supply chain could hinder the UK aerospace industry.
Craig Gallagher (pictured) —
CEO of Motherwell-based MB Aerospace, which is a key supplier to aero-engine manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce — told the newspaper: “There is definitely cost pressure, and that’s coming now with the challenge of volume.”
Meanwhile, David Bailey, chief executive of the North West Aerospace Alliance, said that more capacity is needed. “Have we got the strategies and investment plans in line with these growth plans? I’m not sure, to be honest. What we need to see is investment in the new capital equipment and machines that are required to meet these rates.”
Andrew Churchill, managing director of a company that makes gas-turbine blades, said that his company has had a “challenging time” after starting a number of programmes simultaneously at the beginning of this year. It is dealing with the increase in production by buying new machinery and taking on extra staff.
Mr Churchill said: “We went from a position of being quite substantially under capacity to being over capacity in the blink of an eye, and we went through a period of extensive arrears while trying to catch up. However, explaining that it’s the compression of programmes that has created a problem doesn’t win you any ‘brownie points’.”
Fabrice Brégier, CEO of the passenger jet division of Airbus, said that the company is doing “everything possible to mitigate the risks” of a planned increase in A350 production by 2018.
“Perhaps one of our suppliers will fail, so our job is to avoid that, to support them, to look for alternatives . . . but I don’t expect big issues. The quality of the supply chain is the responsibility of the prime contractor, so this is my job and the job of Airbus.”