Messier Bugatti, the brake and hydraulic specialist subsidiary of French engine manufacturer Snecma, has announced at Farnborough the creation of a new carbon disk plant in the USA.
The company, called A-Carb, has been incorporated in Cincinnati, Ohio, within the last week with an investment from Messier Bugatti of $30 million, says chairman and chief executive officer Yves Leclère.
The 40 acre (16Ha) site will give A-Carb an annual capacity of more than 70 tonnes of carbon disks, which will be fitted to Airbus and Boeing aircraft.
The new plant, which will produce its first carbon brakes at the end of 1999, will employ 60 people. As a production-only plant it will have no service function which will be handled through Messier-Bugatti's established Washington DC base.
Leclère says that a general manager will be appointed "within hours." An announcement is not expected until next week.
"It will be a young and enthusiastic American. Many people will be surprised when it is announced," he adds.
The US operation, which will replicate the process used by Messier-Bugatti at its French plant in Lyon, will account for one-quarter of its total worldwide carbon brake disk production.
Source: Flight Daily News
