CHICAGO—Engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney plans to grow its U.S. aftermarket operations by opening an MRO technologies and performance center of excellence in Florida, while also growing capacity for the geared turbofan engine at an existing maintenance facility in the state.
This week, Pratt shared details of its North American Technology Accelerator (NATA) which will be established in West Palm Beach, Florida as a center of excellence with a focus on commercial and military aftermarket operations.
The NATA operation will be its second global technology accelerator. Pratt established a technology accelerator in Singapore two years ago, which was set up to develop technologies around robotics, advanced inspection, connected factory and shop digital twin.
According to the company, the U.S. NATA will explore material restoration and process automation including advanced repairs, digital inspection, adaptive processing and coating and masking for compressor and fan parts, blades and cases, among other functions.
Its overall aim will target cost reduction, material demand and environmental impact while decreasing turn times, improving throughput and delivering value to customers.
Pratt says key projects related to the NATA will include additive repairs for critical components related to the geared turbofan (GTF) engine. The OEM says it expects to recover $100 million worth of parts over the next five years to support the GTF MRO ramp up.
In addition, Pratt has also announced a $20 million investment to grow GTF maintenance capacity at its West Palm Beach Engine Center in Florida.
The company says the expansion will accommodate a 40% increase in capacity and is expected to be completed by the second half of 2025. To support the ramp up, Pratt also plans to grow its workforce by 25% at the site over the next year while investing in equipment for machining, testing, cleaning and warehousing functions.
Pratt says technologies developed at its NATA operation will be fed into the West Palm Beach operation, which became a GTF capable facility in 2021.
The engine OEM currently operates 16 GTF MRO engine centers globally and expects another three to come online by next year.
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