Carbures beats 2016 aerospace production record

Spanish Tier 2 composites producer Carbures (El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain) announced recently that it has reached an historical record for production of composite aircraft parts, with 45,695 parts produced at its plants in Illescas and Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. This production volume was an increase of 16.2% compared to the 39,322 parts manufactured in 2015.

Carbures, the subject of a previous CW Plant Tour manufactures structural parts for Airbus (Toulouse, France) models A320, A320neo, A330, A340, A350, A380, among other commercial aircraft, and for the A400M, A330MRTT and C295, for military use. The parts manufactured by Carbures for these models are diverse and range in size from a few centimeters to more than 4m in length. Some examples include the engine oil cap, beams and panels, omegas for fans cowls and aircraft nose parts.

Although the Illescas facility has the highest production rate in absolute terms, Carbures’ factory at Jerez de la Frontera has seen its production increased from 6,478 manufactured parts in 2015 to 9,328 in 2016, a 44% increase in one year. This is due to Carbures’ rate ramp-up for its manufacturing programs by 25% in 2016.

The facility, which opened in 2013, has a total footprint of 15,000m², of which 7,800m² belong to the factory floor, and has reached 70% of its productive capacity in only three years. More growth is expected this year to accommodate work for new Airbus models as well as those of other Tier 1 manufacturers, which are increasingly incorporating lighter materials to decrease plane weight/fuel use, says Carbures executive president Rafael Contreras: “Carbures continues to be very strong in the aeronautics sector. We have more than 15 years of experience in aeronautics, which is where the company was born, and we continue working to give greater quality to our customers.”

Company sites in Illescas, Jerez, El Puerto de Santa María and the engineering facilities in Seville have passed quality audits imposed by the aeronautic and defense sector during 2016, including Nadcap Composite AC7118, Nadcap NDT AC7114, Nadcap Laboratory AC7122, UNE-EN 9100: 2010, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OSHAS 18001:2007). From its experience in the aeronautic sector, the company also continues to produce carbon fiber parts for the automotive sector, through its Carbures Mobility division.