GKN's New St. Louis Facility Brings the 'Snap Together' Aircraft Closer

"Of all the acquisitions we've made," says James Fitzsimmons, president and CEO of GKN Aerospace Services "the St Louis structural materials site is by far the most important. At a stroke we have combined the capability to undertake the engineering, design and manufacture of components and aerostructures, in every critical aviation material.

"At St Louis," Fitzimmons continued, "we can work with metals, composites and resin transfer moldings, while at the same time offering supply chain management to all our customers. We have established separate business units for all these elements to provide a one-stop shop for the design, development, manufacture and supply chain integration of all our materials technology."

GKN Aerospace Services acquired the former McDonnell Douglas facility in St Louis from Boeing in January 2001. The two companies maintain a strategic alliance, but GKN is looking to diversify and expand its activities thanks to the vast capability that the St Louis plant now offers.

"We have an annual turnover of $300 million," says Fitzsimmons, "but we are looking to grow that to $500 million over the next five to 10 years. Today our business base with Boeing is 100% military, but we want to diversify into new military areas, along with commercial aircraft and regional jets. We will be working with Bombardier and Honeywell on the regional aircraft projects, and we are in discussions with Airbus. We are also transferring work from other GKN sites to St Louis to take advantage of its capabilities.

"We are the only company in the world that can work with all three key aerospace materials like this. Our aim is to build strategic relationships with OEMs, to take on the responsibilities of design, manufacture and supply chain management, and allow them to focus on their prime tasks. GKN is positioning itself to follow the Airbus assembly model, which perhaps hasn't been sufficiently recognized in the USA, and make the 'snap-together' aircraft a real proposition."