Carbon fibre composite manufacturers Quickstep Technologies have opened its new manufacturing facility at Sydney’s Bankstown Airport. The manufacturing facility will supply components to aerospace companies Northrop Grumman Corporation and Lockheed Martin.
The facility which was opened by Northrop Grumman executives today comprises a 4000 square metre hangar with $15 million of the latest state of the art manufacturing equipment and infrastructure along with a 1250 metre office, which now becomes Quickstep’s headquarters. Quickstep has substantial additional capacity for further expansion.
Quickstep will also be able to conduct research and development to licence its uniqe and patented composites manufacturing process from within the Bankstown facility and in cooperation with Quickstep’s Munich and Dayton Ohio R&D facilities.
Philippe Odouard, Managing Director of Quickstep, said that the new plant and the jobs that it creates demonstrated Quickstep’s successful relationship with its major aerospace customers, and has the capacity to become an integral part of the global supply chain for these high volume manufacturing industries.
This facility represents a quantum leap in Australian advanced composites manufacturing, strengthening our ability to deliver product and technologies to global industries that increasingly source competitively around the world. We are grateful to the NSW government that substantially participated in the funding of this development
The advanced materials company signed a long term deal in early 2011 with global aerospace corporations Lockheed Martin Corporation and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation intended to secure in excess of $700 million worth of potential contracts to manufacture components for the new multi-nation Joint Strike Fighter (F-35 JSF or JSF). The company started delivering the first parts in October 2011 and commenced serial production of flying parts in March 2012.
Quickstep is also hoping to secure agreements to manufacture more JSF parts before the end of 2012, increasing the variety of different parts being produced.
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