Executives from OGMA, Embraer and Pratt & Whitney join Portugal's Defense Minister, Nuno Melo (third from left) inside OGMA's new GTF MRO facility.
ALVERCA, PORTUGAL—Embraer subsidiary OGMA has opened a new engine maintenance facility dedicated to Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines, a business line the company expects to triple its revenues once it reaches full capacity.
OGMA signed an agreement with Pratt & Whitney in 2020 to become part of its geared turbofan (GTF) network, a move that is part of Embraer’s ambitious services growth strategy which aims to generate new business through the launch of platform-agnostic MRO capabilities.
During an exclusive interview with Aviation Week Network at the engine facility’s opening ceremony, Embraer Services and Support President Carlos Naufel, who is also chairman of the board of OGMA, said the company expects to induct between 20-25 GTF engines this year. By 2030, he says OGMA plans to service around 240 GTF engines, which should generate around half a billion euros.
At the opening ceremony, Paulo Monghinho, CEO of OGMA, described the work behind setting up the new facility, noting that it took hundreds of people and thousands of hours to design it, set up teams and build new infrastructure. The more than €90 million ($97.7 million) investment includes a 8,000 m2 (more than 86,000 ft.2) facility that incorporates capabilities such as an automatic line for cleaning, balancing of static and rotating components, numerical control assisted grinding, a new logistics center and what OGMA says is the largest test cell in the country.
Monghinho also noted that the facility has created about 200 new jobs, a staff count that could increase in the future as OGMA ramps up work on the GTF. The company has established on-site training capability for the GTF engine, and it is working with local universities and unions to attract new staff. Naufel noted that Embraer is considering expanding its GIFT (Guiding and Inspiring Future Technicians) training program, which was launched in Brazil earlier this year, to additional locations in Europe and the U.S.
When asked about the business impact of ongoing GTF inspections due to powdered metal issues, Naufel said that it should not be significant because “one of the things about this business model that Pratt created is I don’t need to go out to sell,” he said. “It’s a very secure network because there’s already a need for [GTF services] and the volume of work is split across it.”
Amy Comer, vice president of GTF programs at Pratt & Whitney, noted at the opening ceremony that OGMA is now the 18th shop in the OEM’s GTF network and the eighth in the European region capable of full disassembly, assembly and test capability. She also said the OEM has more than 11,000 GTFs on order.
According to Naufel, engine maintenance currently accounts for approximately 60% of OGMA’s revenues. Embraer owns 65% of its shares, and the Portuguese government owns the remaining 35%. In addition to its new GTF capability, OGMA also works on Rolls-Royce T56, AE2100, AE3007 and AE1107 engines. The company offers MRO services for commercial, defense and executive jet customers, including airframe, components, aircraft painting, manufacturing and engineering capabilities.
