Above: (left to right): Mark Edwards, CEO, AIM Altitude; Mahmood Ameen, SVP of engineering projects, Emirates; Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates; Peer Wiebe, vice president of Airbus at the official opening
December 20, 2016 – Cabin interiors designer and manufacturer, AIM Altitude has opened its new purpose-built facility at Bournemouth Airport in the UK. The 168,000 sq ft facility brings the whole of AIM Altitude’s cabin interiors division into one building and also serves as the headquarters of the AIM Altitude group.
The facility was officially opened by Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates at an opening ceremony that was also attended by Mahmood Ameen, senior VP of engineering projects at Emirates; Nadir Bhola, manager of engineering projects at Emirates; Peer Wiebe, vice president of Airbus; members of the Chinese embassy; and around 400 members of staff from AIM Altitude.
The state-of-the-art facility houses new machinery, including an additional paint-and-bake booth, to bring the total to four painting booths, and a fully integrated preparation area, serving both paint and trim. The layout of the new shop floor facilitates process flow, with an open, flexible, main assembly area allowing product programs to be changed quickly if required. Key production leaders, production controllers and the quality team have also been integrated into production cells.
The whole facility has been built on lean principles, shortening throughput times by reducing the distance that parts travel in manufacturing, improving the line-side parts storage, shortening communications between departments and improving visual management of projects.
A customer experience area has also been introduced where customers can view AIM Altitude products in a dedicated space, as well as a demonstration area where customers can see their products as they develop.