Inauguration of the SHEERGARD facility in Saint Jean d’Illac
Helene De Wolf
Head of Business Development at Qualitair Aviation Group, a Randstad Company
Saint-Gobain has opened a new composites production plant for the aerospace market in Saint Jean d’Illac (France). The investment enables the Group to get closer to its customer base of European aircraft manufacturers, system suppliers and support the expanding aerospace industry in Europe. The site is located in the New Aquitaine region which is a center of excellence for this sector.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Pierre Dartout, Prefect of the New Aquitaine region, Alain Rousset, President of the New Aquitaine region, Hervé Seyve, Mayor of Saint Jean d’Illac, N. Sreedhar, Vice President Finance of the HPM Sector, Scott Huth, General Manager for the Aero, Films and Fabrics SBU, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics (PPL), and Laurent Cohen-Scali, General Manager of PPL in France.
Following the acquisition of JTT Composites in 2016, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics inherited a facility in France close to Bordeaux. The production plant was transferred to Saint Jean d’Illac over a larger surface area. It thus strengthens the Activity’s manufacturing assets, adding to the two plants in the US. Operational since April 1st, 2017, it now includes two lines, one of which is entirely new. The first uses JTT’s RT2iTM knitting technology and produces composite air ducts to distribute air conditioning in plane cabins. The second opens a new activity with the manufacturing of radomes, which shields satellite connection electronics mounted on the top of the aircraft, and thanks to which we can surf on the web or watch live TV during the flight.
The French facility is a real spearhead to get closer to our European aircraft manufacturer customers and support the expansion of the aerospace industry in Europe. The plant workforce has already doubled in one year and should continue to grow significantly in the years to come.
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