Thai toolmaker builds aviation business with Boeing contract

Thai toolmaker CCS Technologies said last week that aerospace parts manufacturing would become more than half its total business following its agreement earlier this year to supply parts to American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, making it the first Thai company to become a Boeing supplier.

“I see the biggest growth coming from aerospace,” said CCS chief executive officer Ketan Pole, noting that the company saw “400 percent growth” between 2012 and 2016.

That transition from a tool and dye maker to precision manufacturing of aerospace parts and technology is emblematic of Thailand’s ongoing transformation under its 20-year national strategy called Thailand 4.0. The strategy is designed to propel the Kingdom from an assembly-plant economy to a country driven by innovation, research and development, advanced technologies and green technologies.

As part of Thailand 4.0, the government is promoting and supporting 11 industries or sectors it believes can accelerate advanced development, and one of them is aviation and aerospace.

CCS Technologies began its own transition in 2005 when it started supplying aerospace parts to Unison Industries, a subsidiary of GE Engine Service of the United States. Besides supplying Boeing, CSS is aiming to become an official supplier of Airbus of the European Union.

CEO Ketan said that he expects aerospace manufacturing to account for more than 50 percent of his company’s output in the near future.

“If the growth remains like that, it could even be 65 percent of our revenue,” he said.

CSS produces one-off parts but can scale production to high volume. Among the aerospace-related items it produces are components for sensors, braking, as well as nacelle systems, which house aircraft engines. The company is also in the business of plastics and precision manufacturing.