Sigma Advanced Systems has begun production at its dedicated Sri City aerospace facility in Andhra Pradesh, moving the project from ground-breaking to manufacturing in eight months. The first batch of precision-machined aerospace components has been produced and shipped to Sigma UK for final verification ahead of formal delivery to the customer.
The company said the Sri City aerospace facility has also completed the initial stages of the source-change approval process with Rolls-Royce Aerospace. Source-change approvals allow manufacturing arrangements and production sources to be evaluated before components are formally delivered under the relevant aerospace programme.
The facility is being developed across a 500,000-square-foot campus. About 75,000 square feet is currently operational, providing annual capacity of 100,000 machining hours. Sigma said the first facility is budgeted to reach nearly 300,000 annual machining hours as production expands.
The company plans to replicate its established aerospace manufacturing capabilities in the United Kingdom at the Indian site. It said the remaining portion of the campus is expected to become operational over the next 12 months, adding further manufacturing capacity and aerospace-critical processes.
Once the planned capabilities are fully operational, approximately 70 per cent of the manufacturing process is expected to be undertaken in India, according to the company. Sigma also said the facility would have the scale and capabilities to support future acquisitions, although it did not provide details of potential transactions.
“Sri City is an important milestone in Sigma’s evolution as a global aerospace manufacturing partner,” Sunil Kalidindi, chief executive officer and executive director of Sigma Advanced Systems, said in a statement. He said the company had taken a greenfield facility from ground-breaking to production and had begun manufacturing components in India to the standards required by global aerospace programmes.
Kalidindi said the objective was not only to add machining capacity in India but also to replicate the company’s UK capabilities and progressively bring a larger part of the aerospace manufacturing value chain into the country. He added that the facility was expected to support double-digit earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation expansion.
Sri City was selected for its manufacturing scale, capability-development potential and access to international logistics gateways, Sigma said. The industrial city’s connectivity to four major ports is expected to support the facility’s export-oriented operations.
The company also plans to develop specialised aerospace manufacturing skills through on-campus training and capability-development programmes. Sigma said this would create opportunities to strengthen Andhra Pradesh’s skilled workforce in advanced manufacturing.
The production start adds to Andhra Pradesh’s efforts to attract high-technology and export-oriented manufacturing investments. The company’s next stated milestones are the expansion of the operational campus over the coming 12 months and the addition of further aerospace manufacturing processes.
