Aircraft component producer lands in Suzhou
By Chen Qide (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-22 08:47

US Primus International launched a project yesterday to manufacture aircraft components, kits and assemblies as part of its strategy to take a share of China's aerospace industry.

A factory will be built at the Suzhou Industrial Park at a cost of US$10 million to manufacture engine mounts, landing gear, aircraft structures, controls, and passenger and cargo doors with raw materials imported from the United States.

"Some day soon, we hope to buy raw materials from Chinese sources but at the moment, they are not available," said Mike Voegtlin, vice-president of Primus' procurement section.

"Reaching the objective will take at least five years and involve us assisting the raw materials sources in China to improve."

The products will be mostly exported to manufacturers of commercial, regional and business jets in the US, Brazil, Japan, South Korea and Europe, including Boeing, Cessna, Goodrich and Bombardier.

Only a very small percentage of items will be sold to factories in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, Chengdu in Sichuan Province and Shanghai, according to Jim Hoover, president and chief executive officer of Primus International.

Annual sales are expected to reach US$16 million within two or three years.

"But we hope to raise it to over US$60 million by 2008 by investing two to four times the amount of the current investment," he said.

Primus sources said the establishment of the factory will cement a strategic and long-term partnership between leaders of the aviation industry in China and the United States.

"We are proud to be part of China's aviation industry," said Hoover.

"The high quality workforce in China that will become part of the team will be dedicated to the highest standards of aviation excellence."

Voegtlin said Primus hopes to develop more customers in China by establishing partnerships with Chinese aircraft manufacturers.

"We are interested in the ARJ21 project and plan to talk to the Shanghai Aviation Industrial Corp about the matter," he said.

Primus believes China has huge potential, which will need more aircraft in the next decade.

"We are confident about its development, but changes will have to be made for it to meet our expectation," said Xu Ziming, general manager of Primus' China division.

"Our strategy is to merge companies in Asia to grow our business, with a focus on the Chinese market."

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