Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), a core company of the Mitsubishi Group, has announced plans to expand its Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aero Engines (MHIAEL) Nagasaki Plant. The Japanese engineering corporation predicts that demand for engine components for short and medium-range commercial aircraft is expected to increase in the near future.
MHI, a factory specializing in manufacturing combustors, plans to build a second facility adjacent to the existing Nagasaki Plant. Plans include doubling the size of the facility from 5,400 square meters (around 58,125 square feet) to around 11,000 square meters (approximately 118,403 square feet).
The new facility is expected to help the plant “to incorporate manufacturing processes currently contracted out to overseas suppliers to achieve a fully integrated manufacturing for combustors” as well as “to reinforce its manufacturing facilities to support significant production ramp-up,” according to an MHI statement dated April 22, 2022.
The manufacturer added that the expansion is also expected to “further strengthen its in-house production capacity and cost competitiveness and put in place a structure that will allow MHIAEL to meet industry needs readily and accurately once growth resumes in the post-Covid era”.
The company has observed stable signs of recovery, suggesting that the demand for combustors for the PW1100G-JM engines, which power the Airbus A320neo family jets, will increase and “demand for combustor components for the PW1100G-JM engines, as well as after-sales service, is expected to double over the next several years”.
“MHI Group, in anticipation of an increase in long-term demand for commercial aircraft engines worldwide, is expanding its business and production structure for aircraft engines, and this factory expansion plan is a part of such effort,” the statement continues.
“MHI will work in close cooperation with MHIAEL to enhance technological capabilities and reliability for the development, manufacture, and after-sales service of aircraft engines, as well as expand production capabilities, and contribute to the advancement of Japan’s aircraft industry,” the statement said.
The expansion is scheduled for completion in March 2024.