Safran bets on Mexico with two new plants in the country

LEON, GTO - By the end of this year, Safran Mexico will inaugurate two new plants in the country, one in Chihuahua and the other in Queretaro, said Alejandro Cardona Seeman, president of Safran Mexico.

In an interview with A21, during the BJX Summit Aerospace 4.0 2024, held in this city, he explained that Safran System's plant 6, which will be inaugurated by the end of this year in Chihuahua, will manufacture evacuation products, slides and rescue equipment.

The Querétaro plant will have the objective of expanding the MRO activity of single-aisle aircraft engines; the idea is that up to 350 engines can be repaired at this plant for customers worldwide, and a test cell is being built in a controlled environment to run tests on how the engine will behave, as well as verify the parameters and certify the engine to return it to the customer.

He also pointed out that the new aircraft engines section is being expanded, so that this plant will assemble completely new engines in the country. This will position Mexico as the world's third largest producer of turbojets for single-aisle aircraft, after the United States and France.

He added that he expects the engine assembly extension to be inaugurated next November and the MRO engine plant and the Chihuahua plant to be opened next year.

“Safran is betting a lot on Mexico, for the simple fact that it is a completely strategic country, towards one of the largest consumers of aerospace products which is the United States and also a visibility to the Brazilian market, for the Embraer issue," he said.

The president of Safran Mexico added that the Mexican talent, in these last 34 years of Safran's adventure in Mexico, has been specializing, each time it is very competitive and that allows it to continue considering the country to locate highly specialized processes.

He added that, obviously, manufacturing follows technological development to make those designs and concepts a reality.

Therefore, Mexico needs to be able to retain talent in the country, foster an ecosystem of technological innovation and strengthen high-impact doctoral programs.

Another key issue, he said, is the ecosystem of OEMs -original equipment manufacturers- acquiring technology, i.e. when technology is purchased from a company, as in the case of Safran, it is important to analyze how the country's chain -Mexico- is going to participate in this technology.