Aernnova Composites Illescas

The official opening of Aernnova Composites Illescas took place on February 15, 2011, the day on which we officially began a journey of great challenges of which many of the readers will have been participants and even key in its achievement. What some of you probably do not know is that the history of this company began much earlier, in fact, in the second half of 2007.

At that time Aernnova was invited to an on-site Plateau in Toulouse, with the aim of competing with the main Airbus structure suppliers for several A350XWB work packages, among which were the HTP&ELEVATOR, VTP&RUDDER and SECTION 19.1. Aernnova spent several months competing for some of these work packages, preparing technical solutions at all levels: product, industrial and commercial. Teams from Product Engineering, Industrial Composites and Metallics, Supply Chain, Programs and Commercial participated. This period culminated with the assignment in September 2008 of the HTP&Elevator work package as a Design and Build project, and later with the award of the Rudder as a Built to Print package with participation in the development of the product from the Industrial part of Aernnova.

This is the moment when a theoretical concept of a factory dedicated to the production of large composite components with automated technologies had to go from paper to reality, while at the same time the HTP&ELEVATOR of the A350 was being calculated, designed and certified. Two projects running in parallel with coordinated planning, which were part of the great project that meant placing Aernnova among the companies capable of manufacturing large composite components with automated technology.

Many of us remember this phase, in which I was very fortunate to participate, as an immensely exciting phase, in which key decisions were made to make the HTP&ELEVATOR and Aernnova Composites projects what they are today, with the unconditional support of Aernnova’s management, who let the technical teams work, supporting all their decisions and ensuring that the work of concurrence was maintained, which led us to design a technically and cost competitive product, while creating industrially capable facilities. We lived this phase with an Aernnova team from all disciplines displaced for two and a half years at Airbus Getafe and several teams working from their locations and supporting the project.

At this stage of the project we saw many possible Aernnova Composites Illescas, as well as many HTPs that were evolving and growing in maturity. Several designs of the plant were made until we reached the final plans that made us launch the works of the factory in the summer of 2009.

That year, 2009, was key to finish defining the HTP&ELEVATOR and the whole tooling chain for the manufacture of the parts, but also in specifying all the equipment and facilities of the plant from the ATLs and autoclaves, to the overhead cranes, climate equipment, electrical installations, etc.

In summer 2010, one year after the beginning of the works, a very small team of people from all the industrial disciplines (Production, ME, Quality, Supply Chain Planning, Management, etc), moved to the Illescas facilities to start the set-up of all the machines and installations, so that with the arrival of the first HTP&ELEVATOR tooling, the necessary conditions were met for the Certification by the Client of Aernnova Composites Illescas as a production plant in composite material for the A350XWB and later for more Clients and aircrafts.

This huge project culminated on February 15, 2011 with the inauguration of the factory and gave the starting signal to many other projects, among which were to develop and enhance the capabilities of the plant and its equipment, as well as to optimize all the production packages that this plant has. From this February 2011 until today, the plant and the teams that work in it have evolved a lot, but always maintaining the spirit of continuous improvement and striving for excellence in all our capabilities.

During these 14 years of life we have suffered very complicated moments, some of them have affected our industry globally, and others in a particular way to our factory, such as the implementation of the A350XWB PAX DOORS project, COVID -19 or the large staff turnover suffered during 2022. All of them, moments that we have overcome thanks to the support of the great company that is Aernnova, and the fantastic human team that makes up Aernnova Composites Illescas and that has in its DNA this concept of industrial excellence, which we must continue to pursue to remain at the forefront of the manufacturers of large aeronautical components in composite material.

When we participate in visits to our facilities by clients or institutions, we often receive frequent comments about how well maintained and cared for our facilities are, the knowledge in composite material that is denoted, and the passion with which we talk about our facilities and our answer is always the same: Aernnova Composites is our home, who does not speak with passion about home?