Strata Celebrates 10 Years in the UAE

Strata Manufacturing PJSC (Strata), advanced composite aero-structures manufacturing company wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company, marks its 10th anniversary this month. In the last ten years, Strata, headquartered in the Nibras Al Ain Aerospace Park, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has become a Tier 1 supplier to the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), delivering more than 3,000 shipsets consisting of more than 50,000 components to the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers.

Currently operating 13 production lines, Strata employs around 700 people from 30 countries - 58 per cent of whom are Emirati nationals and nearly 90 per cent are women. The company has partnered with UAE University for a dedicated Aerostructures Technicians Program which spans 24 months. Strata also offers internships and aerospace workshop sessions.

Strata’s ‘Made with Pride in the UAE’ wings and empennage parts now feature on more than eight percent of worldwide single-aisle fleets. The company continues to partner with aircraft manufacturers including Airbus, Boeing and Leonardo Aero-structures Division. Its customer base amounts to seven major customers including Pilatus, FACC AG, SAAB and S.A.B.C.A.

The soon to be launched Strata Plus will be an extension of its current manufacturing facilities to cater to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner vertical fins work package. Under the agreement, Strata will replicate the capabilities of the Boeing Salt Lake City 787 vertical fin assembly line to sub-assemble vertical fins for the Dreamliner family of airplanes from its Al Ain facility. Assembly of the work package is scheduled to commence in 2020. The assembled part will be shipped to North Charleston, South Carolina, and installed on 787 fuselages.

Strata has formalized a joint venture (JV) with Belgium’s materials and chemicals company Solvay, marking Strata’s entry into advanced materials manufacturing. The Strata-Solvay JV will establish an 8,500 square meter facility in Al Ain to supply Boeing with carbon fibre prepreg for primary structure applications in its 777X program. The JV will be the UAE’s first supplier of pre-impregnated carbon fibres and the fourth supplier of pre-impregnated carbon fibers in the world.