The exclusive industry is scrambling to deal with Fallout from the fire of the massive US factory

Written by Alison Lambert and Tim Hefler

(Reuters) – Boeing and other major airlines roam their supply chains to determine their exposure to a large fire last week at a factory in the Philadelphia region that led to the out -seminars throughout the industry, said Reuters.

A day -long fire at the Sps Technologies factory, which dates back to a century can press the supply chain already tied in the industry.

People said that GE Aerospace and others are now trying to know who can replace the production of the lost factory and also determine who has spare parts. Boeing and France, Safran, called the suppliers asking about the potential effects, according to the messages that Reuters saw.

The fire, which was not caused by any death, is the latest in a series of setbacks in space. This facility of the field was very important to produce the main parts, and some analysts warned that its loss could increase the industry’s ability to increase production.

SPS products include titanium stabilizers used to assemble carbon fiber aircraft such as Boeing 787 and Airbus A350.

Some manufacturers, analysts, and executives in the industry said that some of the fasteners produced in the factory are very specialized and cannot be easily obtained by manufacturers, analysts and executives in the industry.

Boeing and the European competitor were already facing supply obstacles because she was trying to enhance the plane’s output.

“There is only a lot of inventory of this, and that something will have to change very quickly to avoid the potential (problems) that may affect production rates,” said Kevin Michaels, Administrative Director of the Air Year.

In a message sent to the suppliers after the February 17 fire that Reuters saw, Boeing asked the companies if they were regularly used parts of the SPS factory, located in Jenkintown, and explained the effect if SPS could not charge parts requested.

“He works with suppliers to assess effects and … take steps to manage any effects,” said Boeing spokesman. CEO Kelly Ordrag said last week in brief comments that he had expected some fire turmoil.

SAFRAN has also contacted the French engine and landing engine also in suppliers to see if they were buying directly from SPS, according to the messages that Reuters and suppliers saw.

“We are evaluating the situation through our supply chain and we are looking for alternative sources,” said Safran spokesman.

GE Aerospace, the engines industry, the largest space company in the world, said it had sent teams to SPS and was looking at alternative manufacturing sites and backup suppliers.

“We take proactive steps to reduce the disorder and ensure the continued delivery of our customers,” said a spokesman.

A third industry source said SPS is also an important resource for Airbus in Europe.

“It is still too early to confirm our exposure, yet we expect the effect will be limited to our operations,” said Airpos.

Supply competition

Sps is part of the company Castparts Corp (PCC) owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which was not immediately available for comment. SPS claims that it is “difficult to find a plane” that does not contain some of its products.

The attachment of approximately 600,000 square feet (5.6 hectares) specializes in nuts and nails with high -power engines, wings, flying body and landing equipment, according to SPS. The fire was burned for several days before the fire was completely extinguished on February 22, leaving the factory.

Planemakers has a large stock of parts that they deal with daily, but the production gap left by the fire puts the theater for the potential competition to secure supplies on the road. One of the great suppliers went to the point of predicting “codification” by the distributors unless it is possible to find alternatives.

Two executives in other fixing companies said that they were bombed by requests in the wake of the fire, as one of them said that he had received dozens of inquiries in two days.

While most SPS spare parts are produced by many suppliers, some parts of these aircraft governorates were the highest value and only complex parts produced by SPS, according to one of the executives of the FASTERER who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

He added that it may take years for another factory to obtain qualifications to produce them.

“These are not a commodity installation,” Michaels said, adding that there is a lot of concern given the large number of the only fasteners and the unique capabilities associated with this facility. “

Bombardier, a Canadian business plane industry, told Reuters that most of its parts can be obtained elsewhere.

The factory still has some floors and wooden structures, according to two sources who visited the site before the fire.

Until then, the shipment that is intended to send to Boeing from the fire survived but currently unknown.

“This is the type of thing in which we really work on the actual time. It looks like a very great harm.”

(I participated in the reports of Alison Lambert in Montreal and Tim Heifer in Paris; edited by David Javin and Margarita Choi)