Business & GA, Commercial

Aerospace Suppliers See Manufacturing Boom in the Near Future

By Juliet Van Wagenen | November 11, 2014
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[Avionics Today 11-11-2014] The aerospace supply industry is still in the early days of a long-term boom in orders, according to industry participants at a recent suppliers summit at GE Aviation’s headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Suppliers, manufacturers and private equity professionals active in the aerospace industry attended the event and reported, in an overwhelming majority, the expectations that the industry will continue to take off in coming years.

Aircraft on the assembly line
Aircraft on the assembly line. Photo: Cessna

Split about evenly in serving wide-body and narrow-body commercial aircraft platforms, 84 percent of the 80 attendees reported that they plan to increase their workforce over the next 12 months while 91 percent expect to win new long-term supply agreements in the next three years. Furthermore, 76 percent expect aircraft deliveries to continue to grow at least through 2016.

“Today, additive manufacturing is only .02 percent of total global manufacturing, so there is a lot of opportunity going forward,” said Greg Morris, leader of additive technologies for GE Aviation. “I think it’s great that the majority of the survey respondents are already incorporating this technology or plan to in the near future, and I expect that number will continue to rise.”

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