Jean-Paul Herteman, chairman and CEO of Safran, has officially opened the new Messier-Bugatti-Dowty (a subsidiary of Safran) plant in Sendayan, Malaysia.
To support its strong business growth in the Asia-Pacific region, Safran — the world’s leading supplier of carbon brakes for commercial aircraft — chose Malaysia as the location for the new carbon disc facility to address the needs of this region, where the size of the aircraft ‘fleet’ is growing rapidly.
Located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the 10,000 sq m plant will focus on the production of carbon brakes for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families of single-aisle jets in particular. It will have about 150 employees by 2018.
Safran already provides equipment for more than 6,000 commercial aircraft world-wide — a figure that should surpass 10,000 by 2020.
The new Sendayan plant is an ideal complement to Messier-Bugatti-Dowty’s existing carbon disc facilities; these include two in France (Molsheim in Alsace plus Villeurbanne near Lyon) and one in the USA (Walton in Kentucky).
The new plant represents a total investment of $130 million; it will bolster Safran’s industrial presence in Malaysia, which includes helicopter engine manufacturer Turbomeca.