Nordam lands Airbus cabin window contract

• June 21, 2011
  
  

  By D. Ray Tuttle�
  The Journal Record
  Posted: 08:00 PM Monday, June 20, 2011

  TULSA – Nordam Group Inc. has won a multimillion-dollar contract with Airbus to provide cabin windows for the A320 production lines and aftermarket support.

  Nordam expects to add 15 employees as a result of the contract, which begins Jan. 1, said Nordam spokesman Carlos Flores.

  Nordam did not disclose financial details, Flores said. The deal was announced from Airbus headquarters in Le Bourget, France, which is also the site of the Paris Air Show this week.

  “The worth of the contract is hard to say,” Flores said. “It is our largest contract to date, so this is a big opportunity.”

  In addition, Nordam will make operational upgrades to improve the efficiency and quality of its acrylic casting facility in preparation for larger deliveries to Airbus, Flores said.

  Nordam will supply up to 60,000 panes during peak production. It will supply cabin panes not only for Airbus production, but also for replacement panes in the aftermarket as well as making cabin panes sold directly to airlines operating Airbus airliners, Flores said. More than 4,400 Airbus airliners are flying worldwide.

  “Nordam will support the Airbus production line and will take control of Airbus’ spares procurement group,” Flores said.

  Tulsa-based Nordam, which employs 1,700 in Tulsa, is one of the world’s largest independently owned aerospace companies, employing a total of more than 2,000 people across nine facilities on four continents.

  Airbus and Nordam share a long supply relationship, said T. Hastings Siegfried, chief operating officer of Nordam Transparency Group and vice chairman of the Nordam Group Inc.

  The Nordam Transparency Group supplies a number of transparent products – including windshields, cabin windows, wingtip and landing light lenses and simulator screens – for aircraft in business, commercial, military and roto-wing classes.

  Nordam casts its own acrylic and produces Nordex 188 stretched acrylic for use in cabin windows, glazings and flight products, the company said in a statement.

  Nordam has supplied transparent products to Airbus for more than a decade, Flores said.

  Nordam also makes parts for product lines that include wingtip glazing assemblies for the A320 group: A330, A340 and the A380. Nordam also manufactures landing light glazing assemblies for the A380 and cabin windows for the A380 aircraft.

  Airbus, which is making 38 airliners in the A320 family of aircraft, will ramp up production to 42 planes a month. There are 90 windows on each aircraft, which is 3,780 windows a year on just the new production, Flores said.

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