Safran’s Morocco Expansion: Aerospace Giant Diversifies Supply Chain

"For a few years now, we have had a resilience strategy. That is to say, we do not want our supply chain to be dependent on a single source or single points of failure," explained Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran, on the Good Morning Business set on Thursday.

The producer of commercial aircraft engines, including the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737MAX single-aisle jets, launched the construction of a new industrial complex near Casablanca on Monday, including a final engine assembly unit, the group’s first outside of France. "We had the choice between continuing to invest and expand our activities on the Villaroche site (in Seine-et-Marne, editor’s note) or to invest outside of France. And we decided to do it outside of France, in Morocco, to have this dual source," added the executive.

Olivier Andriès justifies the choice of Morocco, a country "that is full of talent, that is in full momentum. Under the impetus of the king (Mohammed VI), there is a real industrial momentum. There are very modern infrastructures. There are talents, engineering schools that are wonderful. And then, there is a stable macroeconomic environment." The group will continue to invest in France, particularly in a new factory in the Ain region.

In April, the CEO of Safran had stated that it was "no longer a question today of investing in France in a city that is held by an environmentalist majority." Olivier Andriès, who is also the current president of the Groupement des industries françaises aéronautiques et spatiales (Gifas), stressed that "overall, we tend to forget in France [...] that before redistributing value, it is first a matter of creating it," specifying that other countries have understood the importance "of having a welcoming policy towards investors."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x971jSPxuNo