FACC have officially opened its new Technology Centre at its St. Martin location in Upper Austria. The newly-constructed office building with 500 workplaces was completed on schedule in August after a construction period of 14 months.
In future it will serve to bundle the company’s worldwide R&D activities. Yesterday also saw inauguration of the new Engineering Test Centre. Annexed to the Technology Centre, this is one of the most modern plants for the analysis, testing and certification of composite materials and components.
A number of customers, suppliers and business partners from all over the world participated in the festivities, along with figures from politics and the business world. With his patronage of the formal opening Michael Strugl, State Minister of Economic Affairs, praised the technical progress and the resulting secure future potential of FACC as a global supplier of the aviation industry.
Walter Stephan, CEO of FACC AG, said in his speech;
Our ‘Vision 2020’ strategy is clear: we want to consolidate our position as one of the leading suppliers of technologically advanced lightweight constructions in the expanding aviation sector and become our customers’ preferred partner.
With the new Technology and Engineering Test Centre, FACC is making a major investment in the future and at the same time a clear commitment to the Upper Austrian location where the company currently employs 2,400 workers, 380 of which FACC has taken on over the course of last year. And thanks to the high level of orders and steady growth, the next few months will see creation of approx. 100 further new jobs.
Investment in research and development increased in the last financial year by 37.5 percent to €96.8 million and is set to keep rising. The company received a specific acknowledgement of its innovative strength in the form of the “Frontrunner” award from the Austrian Ministry of Traffic, Innovation and Technology (bmvit), which was presented to FACC as the first company in Austria by Innovation Minister Doris Bures during her visit in May this year.
Following formation of the etc Prüf und Test GmbH in July 2013 and the partial spin-off from 1 September, the Engineering Test Centre in St. Martin is now operating as an independent company with 35 highly-qualified staff. FACC AG holds 91% of the shares, the remaining 9% are held by Techno-Z Ried. The core competence in material and component testing with the current clear focus on composite materials, as required in the aviation industry, is intended to be rapidly expanded to the automotive sector, products for the sports and leisure industry, renewable energies and special machine construction.
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