Mubadala Investment Company has announced a partnership between its Strata Manufacturing business and AAA of France, along with plans for a major R&D investment at its Aerospace, Renewables & ICT platform.
Strata Manufacturing PJSC, the advanced composite aerostructures manufacturing facility wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Paris-based Assistance Aéronautique et Aérospatiale (AAA), to collaborate and further contribute to aircraft manufacturing support services and advancement of supply chain capabilities in line with Strata’s strategy towards sustainability, competitiveness and growth.
The agreement was signed by Ismail Ali Abdulla, CEO of Strata and Gilles Chauby, CEO of AAA, at Dubai Airshow 2017.
AAA is a privately held on-site service provider, offering industrial production and assembly, manufacturing engineering, industrialization, Final Assembly Line (FAL) services, FAL integration, flight line services, Out Standing Works (OSW) & Out Located Works (OLW), quality conformance management, quality inspection, airlines services and Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) to customers across the world.
Created less than 10 years ago, Strata is a tier 1 supplier of components to Airbus and Boeing focusing on the production of primary and secondary aero-structures using advanced composite materials. The company recently completed delivery of its first set of A350-900 inboard flaps to Airbus.
In other news from Mubadala, the company recently announced plans for its Aerospace, Renewables & ICT platform to invest a further AED 82.5m in Research and Development (R&D) over the next five years. The funding will be used to accelerate several innovative technology development projects that focus on differentiating concepts from the Fourth Industrial Revolution (“Industry 4.0”), including 3D printing, digital manufacturing and advanced materials.
Badr Al-Olama, Director of Aerospace, Mubadala, commented: “Over the past five years, we have demonstrated success stories with robotics and 3D printing. This new phase of development over the next five years will seed disruptive techniques and technologies across our existing and upcoming businesses, supporting the UAE's vision of becoming the global center for fourth industrial revolution technologies.”
Mubadala also announced a collaboration with IBM to develop smart systems that support manufacturing facilities, predictive technology and service optimization in the aviation sector. The collaboration will benefit Strata and Turbine Services & Solutions (TS&S), another wholly owned Mubadala business.