MOTHERWELL, Scotland, April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ —



MB Aerospace, the international aerospace engineering group, has today announced the acquisition of aero-engine component manufacturing business Norbert Industries.

The multi-million dollar deal to acquire Norbert’s operations in Michigan, USA and Rzeszów, Poland, means MB Aerospace now employs nearly 900 staff across North America and Europe.

Further, the acquisition expands the coverage of aero-engines supported by the group to more than 60 various OEM platforms across Commercial, Industrial Gas Turbines and Defence applications.

MB Aerospace chief executive officer Craig Gallagher said: “With its well-invested manufacturing facilities and deep customer relationships in North America, alongside its highly developed engineering resources in Poland, the Norbert business is an opportunity of vast potential to support the growth ambitions for MB Aerospace as a whole. This acquisition will also enable us to continue building an efficient and customer service-led organisation to serve our OEM customers as they continue to grow.

“Not only are we acquiring two highly-performing operations which possess attractive manufacturing capabilities and customer-service led management teams but we are also securing significant additional engineering and manufacturing capacity. We are particularly excited that this acquisition brings with it a significant level of engineering and manufacturing capacity in Rzeszów, Poland, where Norbert Industries co-located in 2008 after itself acquiring a manufacturing division from one of its main customers (Pratt & Whitney) with a significant presence in the region.

“Rzeszów is in the heart of Poland’s Aviation Valley, a region in South-Eastern Poland that has a strong aero-engine manufacturing community providing access to skilled capacity, deep engagement of the local government and technical colleges and manufacturing operations from a number of key industry OEMs, including one of our main customers in United Technologies. We are excited about the expansion into this new territory for MB Aerospace and see this investment as the start of a journey with the team there.

“We recognise the hard work that Kevan Johnston – President of Norbert – and his team have put into building this business, in particular the bold strategic decision taken in 2008 to acquire and establish a strong manufacturing presence in Eastern Europe. We look forward to welcoming them to MB Aerospace and supporting the Norbert team with the next stage in their development.”

MB Aerospace has ambitious plans to grow all its operations, and sees the Polish operation as adding an additional dimension to the group alongside the high skill, engineering and technology-focused manufacturing sites already developed.

The enlarged group now has a range of fabrication and machining capabilities able to provide OEMs with engineering skills and services alongside the complex products found throughout aero, marine and industrial gas turbine engines across the full product life-cycle. Core product technologies include fan cases, combustion cases, inlet cases, turbine exhaust cases, turbine support cases, air transfer cases, intermediate cases, rotating rings, complex structural assemblies alongside a range of diffusers and sync rings.

Craig Gallagher added: “The Norbert acquisition is a further part of our strategy to progressively widen MB Aerospace’s capability footprint to address the critical service needs of our aero-engine customers. Historically, a typical aero-engine would have more than 400 unique suppliers; on the current and future generations of aero-engines this will be reduced to around 100 with tier one suppliers required to operate across a range of capabilities to serve their customers. Naturally this trend for OEMs reducing operating and transaction costs will likely drive industry rationalisation and we remain keen to play an active role in this consolidation activity with the backing of our primary financial sponsor Arlington Capital.”

MB Aerospace already supplies many key names in the aerospace and defense industries, providing supply chain integration services alongside the manufacture and repair of complex aero-engine components. Together with Norbert, the enlarged MB Aerospace group provides services and support to more than 60 separate aero-engine platforms across a range of commercial, defense and industrial gas turbine applications.

Kevan Johnston, President of Norbert Industries, commented: “The Norbert teams here in Sterling Heights, Michigan, USA and in Rzeszów, Poland are thrilled to join MB Aerospace.”

Visit http://www.mbaerospace.com for more information.

Contact Brian Welsh:
• +44(0)141-333-9585
• +44(0)7976-456-765
• brian.welsh@bigpartnership.co.uk

SOURCE MB Aerospace