Mahindra Aerospace ties up with Spanish firm

Mahindra Aerospace Monday entered into a strategic technology partnership with the Spanish Aernnova group to design and manufacture aero-structures for Indian and global markets.

"The partnership with Aernnova will enable us to develop capabilities and meet market demand for aero-structures," Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra told reporters at the unveiling of the Aerospace's manufacturing plant at Narsapura in Kolar district, about 100km from here.

As a leading aero-structures tier-1 supplier, Aernnova designs and manufactures airframe assemblies for civil and military aircraft and its tie-up with Mahindra is the first with an Indian aerospace firm.

The Rs.150-crore plant will manufacture airframe assemblies and sub-assemblies, with five-axis CNC (computer numerical control) machining, an automated surface treatment line, priming and painting capabilities for components and parts.

"The plant will assist original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of aircraft and mitigate concerns of tier-one suppliers in terms of cost, schedule and quality deliverables," Mahindra said on the occasion.

The company plans to initially produce smaller parts and sub-assemblies and ramp up to larger assemblies to generate Rs.250 crore revenue at peak capacity annually.

"Our aerospace vision is to build a robust business encompassing both aircraft and component manufacture for Indian and global markets. With unique capabilities and skilled teams, we will accelerate our mission to strengthen the country's place in the global aero-structures supply chain," Mahindra said.

The plant will also service multiple OEMs and their supply chains. With expertise in aerospace engineering domain, the facility will move from "build-to-print" towards "design-to-delivery" offerings.

"The facility will augment India's aerospace supply chain to play a vital role in building the regional eco-system and address capacity challenges for OEMs as they ramp up production rates," said Aernnova group chairman Inaki Gandasegui.

The company acquired the Australia-based Aerostaff and GippsAero in 2010 to foray into utility aircraft and aero-structures manufacturing.