Tata Motors unit to make parts for Dreamliner

After creating a flutter with the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, Tata Motors will contribute structural components to one of Boeing’s most ambitious projects, the 787 Dreamliner.

The American aircraft manufacturer has signed an agreement with Tata Automobile Limited (TAL) Manufacturing Solutions, a wholly-owned Tata Motors subsidiary, to build floor beams using new technology with advanced titanium and composite materials.

These components will be made at an upcoming 30-acre, Rs 250-crore facility being set up to cater to aerospace requirements at Nagpur in Maharashtra. Commercial production will begin in 2009.

The financials and size of the contract are not being disclosed by either company. The move is being seen as a precursor to a bigger exposure in aerospace components and parts, though the group did not provide more detail.

Ravi Kant, chairman, TAL, and managing director, Tata Motors, said, “ We believe this agreement has the potential to develop into a more broad-based alliance that would enable both organisations to utilise the best and most competitive resources within themselves and thereby offer greater value to customers.”

Boeing’s spokesperson from Seattle, Ken Mercer, told Business Standard, “This is a big opportunity for us and India is a priority market. We would be looking for other such partnerships with Indian companies and discussions are on.”

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been widely discussed as much for its size as its economics. It is the first commercial aircraft to use mostly composite material and will burn 20 per cent less fuel per passenger than airplanes of comparable size, cause less carbon emission and have less noisy take-offs and landings.

Today’s deal is part of an effort by Boeing to scout for long-term partners in India to manufacture components. It already has a tie-up with government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for the manufacture of aircraft components and assemblies and the digitisation of engineering drawings.

HAL is currently the single source for the Boeing 757 overwing exit doors and the 777’s main landing gear uplock boxes.

In the last month Boeing had announced India’s first public-private aerospace consortium with the Indian Institute of Science, Society for Innovation and Development, Wipro Technologies and HCL Technologies.