ROLLS-ROYCE yesterday commenced construction of its $700 million Seletar Campus which is expected to become fully operational by mid-2012.

The 15.4ha campus at the Seletar Aerospace Park will comprise a Trent aero engine assembly and test facility, a wide chord fan blade (WCFB) manufacturing facility as well as a regional training centre and advanced technology centre.

The engine facility has a designed capacity of 250 engines a year while the fan blade plant will initially be able to manufacture 6,000 pieces a year, with the possibility of expanding to 7,600 blades with further investment.

These products are currently made in Rolls-Royce’s plants in the UK but management emphasised that the Singapore facilities are meant to complement, and not replace, these.

‘What we’ll see is a facility with massive experience in the UK partnering with a new facility . . . to achieve for both facilities increased productivity and lowering of costs,’ said Rolls-Royce Singapore Southeast Asia regional director Jonathan Asherson. There will also be likely downstream effects from the manufacturing process as more of the supply chain is moved to Asia to feed the plants.

Typically 70 to 80 per cent of production process is outsourced, Mr Asherson said, and this would naturally likely lead to more involvement of local supply chain players. As other engine manufacturers such as Pratt & Whitney set up in Singapore, there will also be more suppliers coming in to service them and this will benefit all the manufacturers, Mr Asherson said.

It made sense to locate the plants in Singapore because Asian growth is the highest for Rolls-Royce by region with some 40 per cent of the order book coming from the region, he added. In addition, ‘it would be a logical progression’ to do design work at the Singapore facility to make full use of the talents available.

‘Singapore is an important regional hub for Rolls-Royce and we are very pleased to be expanding our presence here,’ said COO Mike Terrett.

‘We are pleased that Rolls-Royce has chosen to locate its Asian campus in Singapore, making it the home in Asia for some very sophisticated aerospace capabilities,’ said Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, who was guest of honour.

Source: Business Times, 2 Feb 2010