Story ID: 378
GKN Aerospace Expands Mexico Facility
By: Peter Shaw-Smith
Caption: GKN's Chihuahua facility has doubled in size
Word Count: 288
GKN Aerospace has officially opened an expansion to its facility in Chihuahua, Mexico, in what the company calls a "significant advancement" for its manufacturing capabilities for the North American market.
With the 80,000-sq-ft expansion project, GKN has doubled the facility's manufacturing capacity. The Chihuahua site will primarily assemble composite aerostructures and electrical wiring interconnection systems. According to GKN, the expansion will create more than 200 new jobs.
“The company's expansion in Chihuahua is a testament to the trust and confidence placed in our state,” said Chihuahua governor Maria Eugenia Campos .
GKN expects the enhanced production capacity will strengthen partnerships with customers in the region, including HondaJet and Gulfstream, and will position the site for future growth.
“The expansion of our Chihuahua facility is an important milestone for us. It will supplement our already established aerostructures footprint in the region, embedding our industry-leading EWIS capabilities into North America for the first time,” said John Pritchard, president of civil airframes at GKN.
“Combined, lightweight structures and advanced EWIS systems are critical for both our customers’ platforms today, as well as to enable the future of sustainable flight. Having this multi-technology site in Chihuahua is an important step forward in enabling this.”
GKN has three facilities in Mexico that serve both civil and business aviation markets in the U.S. and Europe. The Chihuahua facility specializes in advanced composite and metal structures, specialized processes, and engineering services.
Meanwhile, manufacturing capability from China, India, Turkey, and Mexico complements GKN's EWIS center of excellence in the Netherlands and extends to the company's agreement with Airbus for A220 EWIS packages in a multi-year contract extension with the European OEM.