Airfoil repair specialist ASSB expands facility in Malaysia

Airfoil Services Sdn Bhd (ASSB), a 50/50 joint venture between MTU Aero Engines AG and Lufthansa Technik AG, has broken ground on its facility extension. This expansion grows facility space by 5,200 square meters and will increase current repair capacity from 650,000 to 900,000 parts per year by 2020. This development underlines the shareholders’ commitment to increasing its footprint and investing in Malaysia.

“There is significant market demand for airfoil repairs and we are delighted to be expanding the facility to cater to our customer’s needs,” commented Wim van Beers, Managing Director, ASSB. “ASSB’s rapid growth not only brings investment to the region neighboring Kuala Lumpur, it also provides additional highly-skilled job opportunities to the local population.” The company is planning to add another 200 jobs over the next three years, increasing the workforce to around 700 employees. Through its internally developed apprentice program, ASSB took on 124 local apprentices in 2018. 

ASSB has seen great success since the company was founded in 1991. It boasts over 80 customers worldwide and provides a comprehensive range of airfoil repair services for high-pressure compressor (HPC) and low-pressure turbine (LPT) airfoils – for widebody and narrowbody engines such as the CF6-80C, GP7000 and the CFM56 and V2500 engine families. In the past two years alone, ASSB has seen 50% growth compared to 2016. The company is highly focused on research and development and has recently initiated several repair development projects for new generation airfoils to increase its product portfolio in the near future.  

MTU and Lufthansa Technik entered into the joint venture with the aim of providing their customers with the best possible airfoil services in the industry. Alongside repair development and baseload volume, the partners contribute knowledge, training and improved quality standards to the location.