UMW Aerospace inducted into Rolls-Royce’s high performing suppliers group
17 Jun 2021
UMW Aerospace Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UMW Holdings Bhd, has been inducted in the 2021 Cohort of Rolls-Royce’s High Performing Supplier Group.
The inclusion places UMW Aerospace among the top five per cent of Rolls-Royce’s global suppliers, since winning the “Trusted to Deliver Excellence” award in 2018.
UMW Aerospace is the only home-grown company to become a Tier 1 supplier to Rolls- Royce.
UMW Holdings president and group chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali said the achievement placed UMW Aerospace among the more established players in the industry and in a favourable position to participate in Rolls-Royce’s future projects.
“We believe this achievement is a testament to Malaysia’s potential to become an aerospace hub in Asean,” said Ahmad Fuaad.
He said the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) had been instrumental in assisting the group to set up the operations in Serendah, Selangor in record time through collaboration with various government agencies.
“We recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Mida that will allow both parties to leverage on each other’s strengths to provide capacity building opportunities to attract high-quality investments into Malaysia,” he added.
In August 2015, UMW Aerospace signed a 25 plus 5 year contract with Rolls-Royce to manufacture and assemble fan cases for the latter’s Trent 1000 and Trent 7000 engines.
Based in the UMW high-value manufacturing park in Serendah, UMW Aerospace delivered the first fan case for Trent 1000 engines in November 2017.
Subsequently, it delivered the maiden fan case for Trent 7000 engines in October 2020.
The fan cases are transported to Rolls-Royce’s facility in Singapore.
Mida chief executive officer Arham Abdul Rahman lauded Rolls-Royce for its confidence and opportunity to UMW Aerospace to be part of its supply chain.
Arham said this showed that Malaysia was an ideal location to meet the growing demand of the aerospace sector in the Asia Pacific region.
“Given the vibrant business environment, we are optimistic that Rolls-Royce will benefit from Malaysia’s established ecosystem and facilities. We are pleased that Malaysia continues to fit into Rolls-Royce’s overall growth strategy for the region, exceptionally so, with its Industry 4.0 technology success.
“This aligns with the government’s efforts to attract high value-added and technology intensive projects into the country,” he added.
The aerospace sector is expected to remain as one of the high growth industries in the 12th Malaysia Plan, which will be announced this year.
Mida said it would consistently promote the aerospace industry in line with the Malaysian Aerospace Industry Blueprint 2030.
Today, Malaysia hosts 230 companies in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), aero-manufacturing, education and training, systems integration and engineering and design activities, with the support of 27,500 employees.
Source: NST
