Boeing to Manufacture some Aircraft Components in Vietnam

The US airplane manufacturing giant Boeing and seven accessories suppliers began to seek investment opportunities in manufacturing certain components of Boeing aircraft in Vietnam. Christopher Flint, Boeing’s sales director for Asia-Pacific, said that Vietnam should train skilled engineers to work in factories invested by Boeing and its partners.

This was the first time Boeing and its suppliers have sought investment opportunities to develop the aircraft accessory manufacturing industry in Vietnam. Boeing highly appreciated Vietnam’s potential and the invitation for its seven strategic partners, including GE, Rolls Royce, Whiney and heavy industry firms of Japan and Singapore, to invest in Vietnam. Flint said that it was a commitment expressing Boeing’s trust in Vietnam’s potential. However, the Boeing official said, to enable Vietnam’s capacity, Boeing and its partners would have to work with Vietnamese partners to seek opportunities and see when they would be able to exploit Vietnam’s potential in manufacturing aircraft accessories.

To manufacture an aeroplane, Boeing manufactures and purchases over 200,000 pieces of equipment and accessories from suppliers in 100 countries, with about two thirds having measurements as small as a cigarette pack. However, manufacture of the equipment and accessories require high technology. John Byrne, Boeing’s Commercial Airplane, Supplier Management & Procurement Purchase Outside Production/Raw Materials, said he heard some ministry reports about what Vietnam’s industry did to maintain airplanes and Vietnam’s methods were similar to the manufacture of airplane accessories. Byrne said that based on these foundations, Boeing would be able to assess requirements for manufacturing aircraft accessories locally.

Boeing’s suppliers said that it would take them between two and five years to construct factories in Vietnam. A Singapore-based accessory manufacture firm stated that it was developing Vietnam’s workforces for the purpose. In one year, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City may be selected for the factory construction which will support other factories in China and Singapore. Goh Wee Keng, president of the Singapore Airplane Accessories Manufacturing Company, said that in 1995 they went to China to build factories and many Chinese people were recruited for nine months of training in Singapore. Goh said that they would do the same in Vietnam.

Vietnam has manufactured some accessories to replace Russian-made ones in the past and in recent years Vietnam has been able to maintain Airbus and Boeing airplanes. Now, Vietnam has two small foreign-invested companies manufacturing motors and sensors for Airbus planes. With investment from Boeing and its accessories suppliers, the Vietnamese aviation industry will make important progress.

• Thi Van