Hannah Newton, senior vice president for Business Development & Capability at Rolls-Royce.
Hannah Newton, senior vice president for Business Development & Capability at British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, discusses the OEM’s aftermarket capacity expansion plans and how advanced technologies are aiding the challenged supply chain.
Have the recent durability issues related to some Rolls-Royce commercial engine programs impacted maintenance capacity planning across its global network?
The current industry-wide supply chain constraints have required greater resilience across both the supply chain and MRO. That is why we are investing £1 billion ($1.28 billion) in a program to extend time on wing in the Trent fleet and, alongside our partners, invest significantly in our aftermarket network. Our strong financial performance, highlighted at our annual results this year, is allowing us to increase our investment in the future to take us to a place of resilience and strength that we have not seen before. As an example, we have a new high-pressure turbine blade (phase one upgrade) coming soon to the Trent 1000—a blade that has proven to more than double time on wing on the Trent 7000. To facilitate this new hardware as quickly as possible, we have introduced incremental capacity into our network by adding dedicated lines in our facilities in Derby [England] and Dahlewitz [Germany]. The near-term focus for this facility will be the Trent 1000 and enabling the rapid upgrade of the fleet with the Durability Enhancement package.
As an engine OEM, how have production rates and targets impacted the aftermarket side of the business?
New orders and increasing flying hours on top of a strong existing fleet mean that demand for shop visits is increasing. That’s why it’s equally important that we not only invest in the continuing development and improvements for our Trent engines, but we also invest in our global Trent network. We are looking at our full MRO capability, which includes near wing maintenance, repair capability and full overhaul to ensure we’re optimizing our full network capacity.
When growing its aftermarket network, will Rolls-Royce favor partnerships, in the mold of its agreement with Sanad, rather than establishing new joint ventures?
We plan to significantly increase our global MRO capacity and capability by 2030 and we are constantly working with our customers to understand where we may need to further invest. Collaboration is key—our vision is to bring together industry partners to be ever more capable, flexible and resilient. Our global network includes a strong mix of Rolls-Royce owned, joint venture and other collaborations with industry partners. Recently, we have introduced new capacity through a joint venture with BAESL, a wholly owned facility in Dahlewitz and a third-party shop with Air France KLM. Having this mix in a capacity-constrained environment enables a flexible MRO network that helps us build resilience.
How will Rolls-Royce look to grow capacity further within its existing network of shops, following the return of commercial engine work in Dahlewitz at the end of last year?
We have the capacity in place for the growth that we see. We have invested to grow capacity in Derby, Dahlewitz and Singapore. This will allow us to deliver more new engines and, by the end of this year, perform an additional 50% more shop visits compared to 2023 to support rising aftermarket volumes. In December last year, the first Trent 1000 TEN arrived at the MRO facility in Dahlewitz. In addition, there’s also expansion at most of our joint ventures such as N3 in Germany, our joint venture with Lufthansa Technik which will ramp up from 160 engines a year to 250 over the next two years. We’ve announced plans to increase our capacity at SAESL, our joint venture with SIA Engineering in Singapore, by 40%, extending the facility by 539,000 ft.2 in engine overhauls and component repair. This capacity will include an advanced repair cell focused on advanced technology to enhance our repair capability in the network. And BAESL, our joint venture with Air China in Beijing, is under construction now and is due to start operations in 2026, covering the Trent 700, Trent XWB-84 and Trent 1000. The 926,000-ft.2 site with new test bed will be capable of inducting up to 250 engines a year by the mid-2030s. We also have a new partner coming to our network in Europe.
Has Rolls-Royce seen improvements in the aftermarket supply chain? If so, what has improved, and what challenges persist?
Recent inflationary pressure and difficulties in the supply chain have resulted in constraints to the availability of MRO across all engine types. The complexity of the products we produce and maintain, coupled with the exotic and scarce materials from which they are manufactured, makes overcoming supply chain issues particularly challenging. We are looking at our full repair capability with a view to increase resilience to new part supply challenges. Our repair cells in Derby and Singapore are highly advanced for automated adaptive repair, specifically aimed at being more agile to respond to arising in-service threats and repair as many components as possible. The cell in SAESL is highly automated, harnessing the adaptive machining, 3D scanning, additive and digital technologies tuned to the modern generation of gas turbine engines.
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