July 28, 2010
On the 20th of July, at the Farnborough International Air show, Liebherr announced that as of spring 2011, they will build an assembly plant for landing gears and a logistics center in Laval. Liebherr-Aerospace Canada, located near Autoroute Chomedey, was given the mandate by Bombardier to assemble and test the landing gears for the C-Series, the first flight of which is scheduled in October 2013. All equipment will be shipped in pieces from Lindenberg, Bavaria, where Liebherr-Aerospace designs them.
"The arrangement covers the duration of the [C-Series] program, which should total 3900 planes", says Liebherr-Aerospace Canada's general manager, Stéphane Rioux, in an interview with Courrier Laval in the hours following the announcement. The race to win the contract opposed Liebherr's Laval facility to a "sister company" located in Detroit. This 130 staff strong "repair station" specialized in aeronautical mechanics made for a strong competitor, Mr. Rioux underlines.
If all goes accordingly, the assembly plant should start business in January 2012, and the aeronautical integrator should hire 35 new highly specialized employees over the 3 following years. "We are committed to keep up with a production rhythm of 1 plane a day as of 2015", explains Mr. Rioux.
In 2002, when they decided to establish their 50,000 sq ft facility in Laval, the multinational company Liebherr had bought enough ground to be able to bear an expansion of their business in Canada. Eight years later, the 170,000 sq ft wide waste land adjoining the North side of the existing facility will accomodate a second building, for a total investment of almost 4 M$.
Since the current buildings shelter two divisions of the Liebherr Group, construction materials and industrial equipment, the construction of a 15,000 sq ft assembly plant will double the surface currently devoted to aeronautical activities.
"It will add up to our services center", specifies Stéphane Rioux, whose 25 strong, highly specialized team focusses on the integration of air systems Liebherr has been designing for 8 years for all Bombardier planes. This time cabine pressurization, air treatment and anti-icing systems are targeted.
Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS president, Francis Niss, states that this Laval expansion "integrates with our continuous commitment towards Bombardier Aeronautics, which started in 1993 with the Global Express program" (business jets). He makes it no secret that "Bombardier is a key client" and that the C-Series, for which Liebherr provides landing gears and air systems, "is a significant stake".
Source : Courrier Laval