Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3

Mike Judd, European Editor, Circuitnet

Day two of Farnborough Air Show opened with news that two Middle East airlines signed orders for 150 Airbus and Boeing airliners worth nearly $25 billion. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways stole the headlines with orders for 55 Airbus (20 A320s, 25 A350s and 10 A380s) and Boeing received orders for 35 787s and 10 777-300ERs. There are also contracts options for additional aircraft.

Airbus signed an $80 million contract with Honeywell’s Platform Components Division to deliver plug-and-play LED position lights for single-aisle Airbus jetliners.

Meggitt PLC has been awarded a contract from Airbus to design, develop, manufacture and support the fire protection system on the new A350 XWB. Terry Twigger, CEO of Meggitt, commented “This contract further strengthens our position as a leading supplier of safety-critical equipment to Airbus.”

The exhibition halls were even busier today, so I took a look at some EMS companies and a pcb supplier.

EADS booth

AWS Group showed its SC21 EMS capabilities on the SBAC (Society of British Aerospace Companies) booth.

The AWS Group is one of the UK’s leading specialist EMS providers, offering services for the whole electronic product life cycle from design through manufacture, to contract service and repair.

The group has four UK based centres: AWS Cemgraft in Newbury, providing surface mount technology and rapid prototyping; AWS Electronics with two locations, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stone, undertaking full turnkey supply including cable/harness assembly; AWS Jantec in Bedford, whole life support and repairs.

Supporting these operations is AWS Slovakia (Namestovo), a low cost electronics manufacturing production facility.

The progress that AWS has made in embracing the Society’s SC21 supply chain programme by achieving a 12 months delivery performance of above 99%, quality levels measured at 248 defects per million opportunities (DPMO), and by scoring over 500 on lean manufacturing and business excellence framework performance, AWS has become the first company to be awarded Silver Medal status. The society has named AWS as the “leading supplier in the S21 program” out of the 350 companies who have signed the initiative.

Paul Deehan CEO commented “It is part of our culture at AWS to welcome and embrace initiatives such as SC21 to drive our continuous improvement programmes, we are therefore delighted to be part of the SBAC’s presence here at this show. While we are pleased with our Silver SC21 Award, we are constantly striving to improve our performance and are actively working for the ultimate recognition – a Gold Award. Additionally we have recently received AS9100 and ISO 14001 accreditation and our next target is J STD 001.”

The Aerospace Wales booth organised by The Welsh Assembly Government and Aerospace Wales Forum, offered a ‘one-stop’ shop for business support in Europe. Wales is the location of choice for companies including GE Aviation, General Dynamics, EADS DS and a growing number of niche suppliers. Wales claims to have both the capability and some surprising innovative solutions for sustainable aerospace growth, through trade, relocation, collaboration or supply chain opportunities.

Newport in South Wales is the home of AXIOM Manufacturing Services providing contract electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to original equipment manufacturers (OEMSs). It provides design support, prototyping, new product introduction, PCB assembly, sub assembly, product assembly, test, warehousing and logistics through to after market services including repair and rework.

I met Jacqui Malpass, Marketing Manager and Gareth Beckett, Account Manager in the Business Development Group. They told me that their strategy is to grow the aerospace and defence business that currently represents about 18% of the current business. Industrial represents 40% and Medical 41%, hence their reason for being at this show.

Jacqui is passionate about achieving their goal. They are achieving accreditation and the awards in order to gain more defence business.

With a 300,000 sq ft plant, 220 employees and a personalised service, the team are enjoying the show and optimistic in achieving their goals.

STS Defence, based on the western shore of Portsmouth Harbour, with a workforce of over 100 in a 60,000 square foot facility, offers a high quality, comprehensive and responsive service directly to the UK MoD, defence primes such as BAE, THALES, AMS and the Rail, Automotive and Marine sectors.

At the show they were located on the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium booth. I met with Paul Withers, Business Development Manager and Pete Edwards, Sales Manager.

STS is BS EN ISO 9001-2000 approved, operating from a 48,000 sq ft facility employing 100 staff across a wide range of disciplines.

It has a wealth of technological expertise and experience, as a dedicated systems and sub-systems service provider.

Ram Pall (left) & Dougal Stewart (right), Stevenage Circuits

Stevenage Circuits first took a booth at Farnborough two years ago and successfully landed a Russian contract. This privately owned company has been in business for 37 years and now has 110 staff. Since that first success at Farnborough, Defence business is approximately 42% of its business and 29% is Medical. It exports to Australia, New Zealand, USA and India. Dougal Stewart, General Manager & S. Ram Pal, Area Sales Manager are rightly proud of the company growth. They are specialists in high density interconnect (HDI), microvia and controlled impedance.

Many companies are exhibiting on shared industry or government stands eg West of England Aerospace Forum, Northern Ireland Aerospace, the North West Aerospace Alliance, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, The Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies, Paris Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Netherlands Aerospace Group, Belgian Aerospace etc.

Regions of the USA had their own booths eg North Carolina, Enterprise Florida, California, Missouri, Connecticut etc.

Rolls Royce booth

So getting around this show is tough, four large halls, 10 rows of chalets, the Static Aircraft Display and many other outdoor displays.

The show continues to draw the crowds. Many military groups, in full uniform were touring the halls today and visiting the hospitality chalets.

This is arguably the best air show in the world!