Finalist: BMW Rolls-Royce
Location Oberursel, Germany
Achievement Creating a brand-new engine company and meeting all targets on schedule. BMW and Rolls-Royce joined forces in 1990 to create a brand-new company which could emerge as the leading European supplier of aero-engines for the regional-aircraft and corporate-jet markets.
Over the past year that goal has started to be achieved with certification of the BR710 engine aboard the Gulfstream V and Bombardier Global Express corporate jets - both achieved ahead of schedule.
The sheer scale of the project, and the company's success in achieving its goals on time, impressed the Awards judging panel.
The project started with a greenfield site and 1,000 staff seven years ago. Since then, the partners have invested over $1 billion in creating the BR700 family and constructing the impressive Dahlewitz production plant in eastern Germany. The assembly halls at Dahlewitz, capable of turning out 300 engines a year, were opened in June 1995 and the first 37 BR710 engines have since been delivered.
The orderbook for the BR710 stands at close to 400 units, including re-engineing work on the UK's Nimrod 2000 programme won in 1996. BMW R-R also has 110 orders for the BR715, launched in 1995 with the McDonnell Douglas MD-95 and which is now running.
Source: Flight International