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Construction has begun in Germany of a new jet engine overhaul facility, N3 Engine Overhaul Services, a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik AG and Rolls-Royce plc. The ultra-modern facility, at Arnstadt in the Federal state of Thuringia, will have the country’s biggest engine test stand.
At a ceremony today, Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Thuringia’s Prime Minister Dieter Althaus emphasised the importance of this high-tech installation with 500 new jobs for the industrial future of Thuringia and Germany. "This investment in the new engine overhaul facility here in Arnstadt represents an important boost for the regional economy. The fact that Rolls-Royce and Lufthansa have chosen to locate in Arnstadt underscores the international competitiveness of the new Federal States”, Merkel said. Thuringia's Prime Minister Dieter Althaus said: "Today's event demonstrates that the decision by Lufthansa Technik AG and Rolls-Royce to build in Arnstadt and hence Thuringia, was important and correct. The new facility will bring jobs for highly qualified engineers and skilled workers to Arnstadt. The joint decision by Rolls-Royce and Lufthansa Technik will act as a magnet, attracting further prestigious aerospace businesses and investors to the region." Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: "By establishing the N3 overhaul facility, Lufthansa is creating new jobs and investing in the technical backup for ultra-modern Rolls-Royce engines in Germany. We have very deliberately put down a marker on the future of this important location. “This commitment is a visible demonstration of our confidence in the future development of the Thuringian region and the abilities of its people. Together with Rolls-Royce, we are convinced that our €100 million investment will stand as a beacon project for Germany as an industrial location.” John Cheffins, Chief Operating Officer of Rolls-Royce, said: “The foundation of N3 is of central strategic importance to Rolls-Royce. It cements our good relations with one of our most important customers, renowned world-wide for its outstanding technological capabilities, and as a result extends and strengthens our global capability in the area of maintenance. “Here, N3 will be following a business model which has already proved highly successful in similar collaborative arrangements with other key customers around the world, notably in Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA. The new joint venture between Lufthansa and Rolls-Royce significantly boosts our capability of offering top-class maintenance services to customers of our Trent engines all over the globe.” The new N3 facility will begin operations in April 2007 with some 300 full-time employees engaged in the maintenance of large Rolls-Royce jet engines, as for example used in the world's largest civil aircraft - the Airbus A380. The 23,000 m2 N3 Engine Overhaul Services facility is under construction on a 12 hectares industrial zone site close to Erfurt. When completed, it will be one of the largest and most up-to-date jet engine maintenance facilities in Europe and devoted exclusively to overhauling the Rolls-Royce Trent 500, 700 and 900 engines, as used in Airbus long-range aircraft. The hall will have an annual throughput of up to 200 engines. These will be thoroughly tested on a stand inside a 110 meter-long 14x14 meter noise-attenuation shell. The stand will accept large turbofan engines up to a maximum thrust of 150,000 lb, making it Germany's biggest installation of this kind. In the first year of operation, the 300 employees will overhaul at least 40 large turbofan engines, rising to more than 100 within two years, with a maximum of 200. The number of employees will rise progressively to 500. From 2007 it will accept ultra-modern Rolls-Royce jet engines for overhaul, serving airlines in Europe, North America and Africa. A personnel training program began for N3 Engine Overhaul Services in October 2005 and the technicians are making good progress towards the attainment of the necessary high qualifications. The first 48 maintenance and overhaul technicians are being trained at the Erfurt Industrial Training Center, supported by Lufthansa Technik and Rolls-Royce. Three further groups of engine technicians totaling 72 people altogether, will begin their training on Rolls-Royce engines this year. The company received more than 6,000 applications for the 500 vacancies at N3, of which more than 80 per cent were from Thuringia. The decision to build the facility in Thuringia was taken in November 2004 following a Europe-wide trawl in a search for a suitable location. The chief criteria for selection were a competitive cost-base, the availability of a work force with the right kind of technical education and skills with the potential to reach the very highest standards, plus good logistics links to the airport hubs at Frankfurt and Munich. The new facility has excellent rail and road links, so that a 6.5-ton jet engine can be transported directly from the airport to Arnstadt overnight in about 12 hours. N3 Engine Overhaul Services GmbH & Co. KG was registered in February 2003 as a company jointly owned by Lufthansa Technik AG (50 per cent) and Rolls-Royce plc, (50 per cent). Source:Press Release
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