AIDC to Set Up 3rd Aircraft Engine Housing Factory in Taiwan

Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), a major aircraft and parts maker in Taiwan, recently claimed to have received flooding orders from major customers GEAE and Rolls Royce for aircraft engine housings.

In addition to expecting  its engine business revenue to grow to NT$7.6 billion (US$253.3 million) generated from its engine business division in 2014, compared to NT$6.4 billion (US$213.3 million) in 2013, AIDC has decided to invest  NT$1.2 billion (US$40 million) in building its third engine housing plant in Gangshan, southern Taiwan, which will kick off production in mid-2016.

AIDC's existing two engine-housing factories will be installed with four five-axis machining centers in 2014, ramping up annual production capacity from 6,500 engine housings in 2013 to some 7,000 units in 2014.

With major engine-housing customers including GEAE, Rolls Royce, P&W, Honeywell and Snecma, AIDC reported annual orders from GEAE and Rolls Royce in 2013 of NT$3.3 billion (US$110 million) and NT$2 billion (US$66.7 million), respectively.

A senior manager of AIDC said that the company plans to start constructing the third engine-housing factory in the first half of 2015, to elevate total annual engine-housing production capacity to 10,000 units by 2016. AIDC is the largest supplier of aircraft engine housings outside the United States.

The aerospace firm noted that it will outsource easier processing works to local sub-contractors to develop the aerospace industry on the island, but keep all the vital works in-house.

In 2013, AIDC released about NT$1 billion (US$33.3 million) worth of engine-housing processing works to satellite plants on the island, and the value is expected to climb by 30% in 2014.