Hexcel Group inaugurated, on Wednesday 21st March, 2018, its state-of-the art manufacturing facility at the MidParc Free Trade Zone in Casablanca. The opening ceremony was attended by Mr Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Minister for Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy; Nick Stanage, Hexcel Chairman, CEO and President; and Thierry Merlot, President, Aerospace – Europe/Asia Pacific/MEA.

This new plant of an initial investment amounting to $20 million, transforms lightweight honeycomb materials into engineered core parts that provide structural reinforcement for aerospace applications including aircraft structures, engine nacelles and helicopter blades. The site is expected to employ more than 200 people by 2020, and it made its first customer delivery last December.

Mr Elalamy declared : “The Aerospace sector is achieving its potential in terms of export business and local integration, following the launch of the Industrial Acceleration Plan. The recently launched “engines” and “composite materials” ecosystems add significantly increased value that Hexcel will support and reinforce. The company is the driving force of the “composite materials” ecosystem, and its business is sure to encourage other structural investments to the region,” added Mr Elalamy.

Nick Stanage, Hexcel’s CEO, commented: “We could not be more pleased to become neighbors here in Midparc with our customers including Airbus, Boeing, Safran and Bombardier. This facility is critical to our success because it positions us to secure additional growth with our aerospace customers in Morocco and around the world,” he said.

The Moroccan plant is part of Hexcel’s ongoing worldwide investment to create a diversified and robust global supply chain to support aerospace customers’ growing demand for engineered core. In recent years, Hexcel has increased capacity at existing plants to support its engineered core business and plans further expansions to capture additional opportunities in a global market with excellent growth potential.

***** About Hexcel Hexcel Corporation is a leading advanced composites company. It develops, manufactures and markets lightweight, high-performance structural materials including carbon fibers, specialty reinforcements, prepregs and other fiber-reinforced matrix materials, honeycomb, adhesives, engineered core and composite structures for use in commercial aerospace, space and defense and industrial applications.