GKN Aerospace Unveils Dedicated U.S. MRO Facility

GKN Aerospace is transitioning to a new, purpose-built engine parts repair facility in San Diego as part of its strategy to meet increasing demand on popular platforms and expand its capabilities.

The 150,000 ft.2 shop sits next to GKN’s existing California facility that housed both new-manufacturing and aftermarket work. The new shop will be dedicated to MRO, leaving the existing facility as a stand-alone original equipment production operation.

“We saw that in order for us to capture both the new product opportunities and the increased volumes, we need to invest in a better, more automated, future-state shop than the one we had,” GKN Engine Systems President Joakim Andersson said.

The new shop will steadily ramp up to have the same capabilities as the existing one, under the same regulatory certifications. While some tooling will make the short trip between facilities, the new repair station will feature state-of-the-art machines and other advanced technology where possible.

“We have already moved some key equipment in, and we are starting to transfer more after [Jan. 1, 2025],” Andersson said. “This is what I like about this plan. You can actually manage and make sure you can grow while risk-mitigating the whole transfer.”

Andersson expects the entire San Diego aftermarket operation to be set up in the new facility by the end of 2025.

GKN, which builds and supports aerostructures, engine parts and electrical wiring interconnection systems, has risk-sharing stakes with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on 19 engine programs. Among them: the CFM5, GE Aerospace CF6 and GENx, IAE V2500, and Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan.

Many of those agreements include aftermarket work. Its customer base goes beyond OEM partners, however, to include MRO shops and distributors.

GKN has engine aftermarket support facilities in Johor, Malaysia; Trollhättan, Sweden; and San Diego. The company’s aftermarket specialty has been metallic fan blades, which it does not manufacture, but it is steadily expanding its portfolio. The U.S. facility’s capabilities include repair of fan disks, blades, and blisks or integrally bladed rotors (IBRs).

“We have invested a lot in two things—repair capacity and material solutions with additive fabrication,” Andersson said. “We are using those processes to cross over to see what other components, like IBRs and fan disks ... would benefit from [new] repairs.”

The new San Diego facility is the logical next step in the company’s effort to both capture more volume and push the technological envelope.

“We’re doing this to capture the increased MRO capacity needed, but also to add automation and future technology,” Andersson said. “We built Johor [in 2022] based on knowledge gained from San Diego. We took everything we learned for three decades in California; we built a brand-new facility with new technology and ran it for a few years.

“Then we said, ‘What works? What’s really good?’” Andersson continued. “And we applied those lessons to the new facility in California.”