BRIDGESTONE B
ridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
With a passion for excellence and creative pioneering, Bridgestone Aircraft Tyre EMEA serves the commercial aviation industry with the highest quality aircraft tyres, providing our customers and their passengers with superior safety and reliability.
Our outstanding tyres are sourced exclusively from our factories in Japan and state-of-the-art retreading facility located in Belgium, the largest aircraft retreading plant in the world.
88,823 square metres of component shop room, our capabilities will be substantially bolstered.”
Despite being SAEI’S flagship project, the state-of-the-art site constitutes just one part of SAEI’S extensive investment strategy that spans the company’s sweeping product and service portfolio. Ashban continues: “SAEI is focusing on its ‘game changer’ as the new facility will facilitate a leading edge to its services, and is also focusing on process improvement, safety culture and selective partnerships in different areas such as engine shop components and manufacturing.”
A visionary outlook
Having become a pillar of aviation MRO since its inception in 1959, SAEI aims to maintain the same adaptable strategies and philosophies that have helped establish its esteemed global reputation as it moves into a milestone 60th anniversary year in 2019.
Continuing to pursue its vision of becoming the leading MRO service provider of high-quality aircraft engines and components in the MENA region, SAEI will equally play a crucial role in helping achieve KSA’S 2030 vision of localising its aerospace and defence industries through continual innovation.
“By combining the newest facilities with the latest technologies on the market, we’re quickly working towards becoming a leading MRO provider for the region,” states Ashban.
“We pride ourselves not only on delivering for our clients, but equally the role we’re able to play in furthering this national agenda.”
He concludes: “By being customer orientated, contributing to the growth of the Kingdom’s aerospace industry and achieving a stable rate of growth for our shareholders, 2019 will likely continue to bear fruits for SAEI, our people and the nation.”
Morethan a century on since the world’s first commercial flight took off in 1914, it is safe to say that almost every aspect of air travel has advanced substantially.
In 1935, for example, the first Qantas flight along the Kangaroo Route (from the UK to Australia) was a 12 day- journey that entailed many multiple stops along the way. Today, however, the same airline runs a non-stop flight between the two countries, taking just 17 hours to complete.
Technology has evolved exponentially, driven by visionaries in the manufacturing sector and wider aerospace industry that continue to seek optimal success in both efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Take aircraft cabins themselves. Customers are now able to access a range of services, from in-flight entertainment to on-board internet connectivity solutions, while other progressive changes have been made, such as the banning of inflight smoking.
Equally, while these changes may spring to mind for the average consumer, they constitute just one small aspect of the wider global effort to optimise air travel – efforts that have
come along way, but are still providing manufacturers, MROS (maintenance, repair and operations firms) and airlines with new headaches each and every day.
One thing for certain is that remaining cost efficient is more difficult today than ever before in face of not only competitive pressures, but also the rising complexity of both demands and expectations. Having studied international business in the United States, Rubi quickly directed his career into the aerospace sector, first joining an aviation brokerage company, then an electronics distributor.
“Most of the customers were deeply involved in Airbus and Boeing systems manufacturing, in most ATA chapters related to cabin, avionics and engines,” explains Rubi.
Having acquired substantial industry knowledge and knowhow, he then moved to Dubai to manage Middle Eastern Asian accounts – a career path that revealed how many industry opportunities were left unsupported.
As a result, after six years Rubi launched BSB Aviation alongside aviation enthusiasts from a similar background.
Remaining dedicated to its overriding customer-first mentality, BSB Aviation has continued to optimise the aerospace industry �n the seven years since its inception