EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies, announced it has recently commissioned a new fan blade manufacturing facility at its AutoAir plant in Lansing, Michigan.
"Pratt & Whitney's $97 million investment in the production of fan blades for the PurePower Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine at our AutoAir facility is part of our more than $1.3 billion investment in 21st century manufacturing technology to transform our footprint worldwide," according to Shane Eddy, vice president, operations, at Pratt & Whitney. "This expansion is part of our strategy to handle delivery demands on our backlog of more than 8,000 firm and option engines on order."
The new 93,000 square-foot facility adds to an already existing GTF fan blade production line in Lansing and is one of 30 dedicated manufacturing, production or assembly locations across the globe performing work on various parts and components of the GTF engine program.
In addition to GTF fan blade production, the Pratt & Whitney AutoAir facility is a center of excellence for test nacelle composite repairs. It has a long history of providing reliable overhaul and repair services for a broad range of composite parts and has earned quality and environmental stewardship awards. With its new capacity coming online, the company is on track to meet its commitments to deliver 350 to 400 GTF engines this year.
In addition to the manufacturing expansion, Pratt & Whitney has four maintenance and repair operations (MRO) facilities to repair and overhaul GTF engines, and additional facilities will be added moving forward.