In a first for any foreign aerospace and defence original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in India, Airbus Group exceeded the US$ 500 million annual procurement mark from India in 2015. Over 6,000 people at more than 45 suppliers, both public and private, are directly engaged in providing engineering and IT services, sero-structures, detail parts and systems, materials and cabins to the group for several of its leading platforms including A380, A350 XWB, A320 Family, A330, C295W, A400M, Eurofighter, Tiger and NH90.
The group has now set its sights on exceeding US$ two billion in cumulative procurement, covering both civil and defence, in the five years up to 2020. The last year’s figure represents a 15 per cent growth over 2014. Overall, Airbus Group’s procurement from India has grown 16 times in the last decade. Today, every Airbus commercial aircraft being produced is partly Made in India.
“Indian suppliers are a cornerstone of our globalisation strategy. Many of the projects with our Indian partners have been very successful and we aim to further strengthen these relationships in the future,” said Klaus Richter, chief procurement officer, Airbus Group and Airbus.
“We are already making in India via our suppliers and this is independent of any offset obligations. If our proposals to produce the C295W military transporter in India together with Tata and military helicopters along with Mahindra materialise, we will help set-up system integration and final assembly lines which will spawn an Indian defence supplier base that will be second to none globally,” said Pierre de Bausset, president and managing director, Airbus Group India.
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) makes half of the entire A320 family forward passenger doors produced worldwide. Dynamatic Technologies makes flap track beams for the A320 family on a global single source basis and was given the contract last year to manufacture them for the A330 family.
Mahindra Aerospace is on contract from Premium Aerotec, an Airbus Group company, to supply more than a million aero-components per year. Aequs has recently inaugurated a dedicated machining facility in Belagavi, the largest of its kind in India, adding to a pre-existing sheet metal, assembly and forging facility and special process operations for Airbus commercial aircraft programmes.
UTC Aerospace Systems makes evacuation slides, interior and exterior lighting, power drive units, auxiliary motors and passenger supply cabin modules for all Airbus commercial aircraft while Axis Cades and Quest provide engineering services for the Fuselage and Wing & Pylon sections respectively, through dedicated design centres, each employing over 200 engineers.
Tata Advanced Materials (TAML) provides composite parts for the wing for the A350 XWB and A320 programmes while another Tata Group company, TAL Manufacturing solutions, has partnered with RUAG Aero-structures to supply over 500 sheet metal and machined parts and sub-assemblies for the A320 programme. In addition, Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) will supply refuelling pods for the A330 MRTT to Airbus Defence and Space via Cobham.
Wipro has received technology transfer from an Airbus Defence and Space JV company in Spain to manufacture more than 8,000 aerospace actuators per year, which go on platforms such as A400M, CN235 and C295W while SEFEE India designs, develops, manufactures and tests complete electrical harness systems for aircraft like A400M and several helicopter types. Infosys provides SAP development and maintenance services while Geometric supports on product lifecycle management (PLM) applications and CAD services. Tech Mahindra provides consulting services on Quality and Business Support.
