Rolls-Royce took the first step towards its S$320 million ($225 million) Trent aero engine facility in Singapore with a groundbreaking ceremony at the new Seletar Aerospace Park.
The Facility of the Future will be the most modern Rolls-Royce production engine assembly and test facility for large commercial aero engines, and its first in Asia. The facility will operate on lean assembly and flowline operating principles developed by Rolls-Royce over the last decade. This will result in significant operational efficiencies and improved service quality.
Scheduled for completion in 2009, the Facility of the Future will produce engines in the Trent series, the Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787 and the Trent XWB for the Airbus A350 XWB. The facility, the development of which was announced in November 2007, also enables Rolls-Royce to be closer to its long-term partner Singapore Airlines, whose fleet will now include engines assembled in Singapore.