Jet engine builder Pratt & Whitney has extended $6 billion worth of long-term supply contracts since May, it announced at a forum of its suppliers on Thursday, noting the products and materials involved will be critical to its planned production increases in the next 10 years. Pratt & Whitney supplies turbofan engines to commercial and military aircraft OEMs.
"At Pratt & Whitney, and across UTC's aerospace companies, we are increasing capacity across our operations and supply chain to prepare for large volumes of commercial and military aircraft systems and engines. We are well on our way to finalizing the remainder of the long-term agreements with suppliers who can meet our demanding performance requirements," according to Sergio Loureiro, vice president, Strategic Sourcing.
Pratt & Whitney, a business unit of United Technologies Corporation (UTC), further noted that it has signed over 135 individual supplier agreements projected to total $16 billion to support its expected production increase.
It has been expanding and updating its own operations in recent years, in preparation for the new supply programs.
At its Middletown, Conn., assembly plant, Pratt & Whitney initiated a four-stage expansion and remodeling project estimated at more than $400 million to optimize production space in preparation for assembling the V2500 and PW1100G-JM commercial jet engines, as well as to increase capacity for the F135 engine. The latter is a military jet engine that Pratt & Whitney builds and supplies to Lockheed Martin for the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter.
P&W also expanded its operation in West Palm Beach, Fla., at a cost of $63 million to accommodate a assembly line for the F-135, expanded its Advanced Coating Technology center in Wallkill, New York, a $140-million project, and built a new manufacturing plant in Singapore, a $110-million project, where it also recently started an engine repair and engineering operation.
All of the projects are directed at an increasing volume of production activity by OEMs, including Lockheed, Embraer, and Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation.
The LTAs that Pratt & Whitney describe to the suppliers at its forum involve critical parts and components for all Pratt & Whitney engine programs.
"Our suppliers make up a critical part of our future production capacity and by signing long-term agreements we are enabling them to invest in equipment, people and training in order to produce and deliver perfect-quality components," stated Danny Di Perna, senior vice president, Engineering and Operations. "These agreements secure sources of parts and components for years to come and ensure the capacity investments to support our production ramp."
