US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and Aviation Industries Corporation of China (AVIC) on Monday unveiled a new factory as part of their composites joint venture (JV) in Tianjin, as Chinese companies are set to become more involved in global aviation manufacturing.
With an investment of $21 million from Boeing, the new plant will boost the production capacity of the JV, Boeing Tianjin Composites Co, by 60 percent, and full production will begin there by 2013.
Boeing Tianjin Composites produces components for all of Boeing's in-production programs, including the 737, 747-8, 767, 777 and 787, and its customers also include Hexcel, Goodrich, and Korean Aerospace Industries.
Last month, rival Airbus also unveiled a new plant for its Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Center in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. The factory will produce major components for the Airbus A350 XWB, a medium capacity, long-range widebody aircraft.
"Outsourcing has been a trend in global aviation, and the expansion of manufacturing giants in China shows the increasing importance of the Chinese market in global industry chains," said Lin Zhijie, an industry researcher from Singapore-based Kent Ridge Consulting, an aviation sector consultancy.
Ray Conner, vice president and general manager of supply chain management and operations for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, on Monday said that the company's annual spending on aviation hardware and services in China is expected to more than double to at least $400 million by 2015.
Currently, Boeing and its supplier partners have contracts with China's aviation industry valued at more than $2.5 billion. There are nearly 9,600 aircraft globally that use parts made in China.
Lin also said the aircraft giants' expansion in China indicates that they intend to cooperate with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China in production of its new C919 passenger jet.
Deliveries of the new airplane are expected to begin in either 2013 or 2014.
