Generous State Support Boosts French Supplier amid Covid

Like so many other aircraft and engine-component manufacturers, France’s JPB Système was hit hard by the Covid pandemic. In April 2020, when it became obvious how production rates would be decimated as airline business models fell apart, CEO Damien Marc knew right away that his team would have to change course quickly.

But rather than shutting down the operation and furloughing staff, he saw an opportunity for the company to reinvent itself by upgrading its capability and product offering. With generous funding from the French government, the effort has led to plans for a new 430,000-sq-ft production and laboratory facility at Villaroche, near Paris, where JPB will expand its fully digitized production techniques for self-locking, safety-critical devices that attach components in engine assemblies.

The company expects the $36 million facility to open during the third quarter of 2022. But JPB isn’t waiting until then to introduce the latest 3D printing techniques to produce higher-performing components for engines made by manufacturers including Safran, Pratt & Whitney, CFM International, GE Aviation, and Rolls-Royce.

Starting with Pratt’s Geared Turbofan program, JPB has automated many aspects of the manufacturing process, using robots to make and then inspect components. Now it wants to diversify beyond engine components to manufacture self-locking devices needed elsewhere in aircraft, such as smart washers, endoscopic caps, nuts, and rods.

By expanding its use of 3D printing techniques, JPB has been able to make lighter parts while also delivering more versatile locking mechanisms that do a better job of dissipating vibration. Self-locking devices avoid the need to use safety wire, which can be time-consuming to assemble and disassemble, making them suitable for use in hard-to-access areas of engines or aircraft.

Marc told AIN that the French government’s Francerelance (relaunch France) program has proved critical to helping the country’s aerospace firms not only survive Covid but also give them a chance to compete more effectively in the longer term. “Our government has been very proactive and its response was maybe one of the best in Europe,” he commented. “It was rapid and massive, with support that started with paying 25 percent of our 2019 revenues to us upfront. The results of this approach will be measured over the next five or six years.”