UMW Aerospace delivers maiden fan case for Rolls Royce Trent aero engines

SERENDAH: UMW Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary UMW Aerospace Sdn Bhd, which today delivered its maiden fan case produced at its new plant here, expects to hit full production capacity of 250 fan cases a year in 2020.
The inaugural delivery is part of its 25 plus five year contract signed with Rolls-Royce in August 2015 to manufacture and assemble fan cases for Rolls-Royce Trent aero engines at the Serendah plant.
The fan cases from the RM750 million facility will be delivered to Rolls Royce's engine assembly and test facility in Seletar Aerospace Park in Singapore, where they will be assembled to the engine.
Speaking at the delivery ceremony here, UMW’s manufacturing and engineering division president Megat Shahrul Azmir said the group will deliver another six fan cases by end of this year.
“We’ve gotten fully certified just a few months back and (now) we have only two months to go. But we’ll have a full year next year, so we’ll be making about 80 (fan cases) next year and 160 in the following year. So by 2020, we’ll reach full capacity of 250 fan cases a year,” he said.
Megat added that the group’s 30-acre plant is fully ready for an expansion up to 320 fan cases per annum.
He also noted that the plant is designed in a way that the ongoing production operation will not be interrupted while expansion works are carried out in the facility.
Megat said the plant currently employs 118 skilled workforce and can go up to 200 workers at full capacity.
Previously, UMW said its venture into the aerospace business is part of its plans to diversify its revenue stream and reduce its dependency on its two major segments, automotive and oil and gas.
The aerospace business however, is only expected to churn in profits three to four years after its first delivery.
Last year, UMW’s manufacturing and engineering division registered RM601.5 million in revenue, a 5.5% contribution to its turnover of RM10.96 billion.