Magnetic Engines has expanded its engine shop in Tallinn, Estonia as part of efforts toward expanded tooling and capabilities. It says the growth will help it meet surging demand and reduce engine induction lead time.

The engine specialist first moved into its original 300 m² (approximately 3,230 ft.²) engine shop in January 2021 when parent company Magnetic Group launched the Magnetic Engines brand. The expansion, which entailed taking over and refurbishing a portion of Magnetic Group’s existing facility, more than doubles its space to 1,000m² (approximately 10,764 ft.²), providing spaces for engine and component shops, storage and offices.

According to Magnetic Engines, the extra space enables it to work on up to five engines in parallel and store up to 10 engines. It also provides space to keep more disassembled engines in the shop while parts are sent for repair.

Alexey Ivanov, executive sales director at Magnetic Engines, says the move is an important strategic step for the company. “It is welcome news for our customers, too, as we had experienced a surge in demand for a while now. Thus, the ability to serve more customers and offer increased flexibility is a natural way to fulfill the requests from customers who entrust their assets with us,” he says.

One such benefit of this increased flexibility is the ability to perform more of what Magnetic Engines calls “Lego projects,” in which it assembles one serviceable engine from the serviceable module of 2-3 unserviceable or run-out engines. It says this concept has previously been popular on CFM56-3 engines, with Magnetic Engines performing more than 16 engine repairs this way between 2021-22. Ivanov says Lego projects are now becoming more popular on CFM56-7B and -5B engines.

“Based on how the market is developing, we expect more and more asset owners will be interested to replace cold section modules on CFM56-5B or -7B engines instead of repairing them,” says Ivanov, noting that it recently assembled one good CFM56-7B engine out of two for sister company Magnetic Leasing. “Based on the number of the modules being sold on the market, there are dozens of engines around the world undergoing repairs like this,” he adds.

With the expanded facility, Magnetic Engines now plans to expand capability and add new tooling. By Q2 2023, it plans to widen the scope of repairs it can perform on removed engine fan modules or low-pressure turbine modules, as well as add capability to remove and install core major modules. Magnetic Engines says the capability expansions will create additional jobs and provide a much wider service offering to its customers.