SMN- Bombardier Inc. said Wednesday it will build a $200-million aircraft-parts plant in Morocco next year scheduled to employ 850 people by 2020.
Bombardier Aerospace president Guy Hachey has acknowledged the company has lagged in tapping emerging markets, and said at a conference in Casablanca in May, which King Mohammed VI attended, that the Montreal transport firm was considering a factory in the country.
A Moroccan trade publication said at the time the plan was close to being finalized.
Morocco won out over Tunisia, Turkey and Eastern European countries because of its commitment to developing its aviation sector, said Bombardier Aerospace spokesperson Haley Dunne from Rabat.
The company would not comment on financing, specifically if Rabat was shouldering some of the $200 million, or how much.
The plant is expected to open by the end of 2012 and begin manufacturing in early 2013.
Dunne said that initially, at least, the factory will make simple components and structures - sub-assemblies of aircraft floor sections and panels, for instance.
But Bombardier did not disclose if the facility would be part of its business aircraft or commercial aircraft divisions, or would service both.
The exact location was not divulged, either, but Dunne noted one of the criteria is that the city chosen must have a university with an aeronautics program.
Earlier this year, the king inaugurated l'Institut des métiers de l'aéronautique in Casablanca that was established to provide qualified personnel to aerospace companies already in the country and for future arrivals.
Morocco has a small, but growing, aviation sector that employs more than 8,000 people at large companies such as Safran, Thales, EADS and Zodiac. Many are close to Casablanca's Nouaceur airport, but there is no confirmation Bombardier's plant would be there.
Dunne said that Bombardier had done an in-depth study of Morocco's prospects for political stability and economic outlook in the face of the Arab Spring movement that overthrew regimes across much of North Africa - in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
"We've been evaluating this for a long time, we've done our homework. We've looked at the country and we feel that it's the right place to be."
Other reasons include "the competitive costs of international manufacturing here, low shipping and transportation costs and proximity to Europe."
Dunne said that Bombardier Aerospace is also investing at its other facilities, including its Global Completion Centre in Montreal, its Short Bros. division in Northern Ireland, its Learjet unit in Wichita, Kan., and its new Queretaro factory in Mexico.
"This has to do with the globalization of the industry - this is what we're doing in terms of sales, customer service and support. We're just expanding into emerging markets because it's important to be close to those markets."
China, for instance, has made no secret of its expectation that if companies want to do business in the country, it will have to establish a manufacturing presence there.
Eric Martel, Bombardier's new president for customer services, said in Las Vegas last month that international markets were "at the top of my list."
Source: By FRANÇOIS SHALOM, The Gazette November 17, 2011,
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