The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has said it will put more Chinese in important positions at its assembly plant in Tianjin, as part of its effort to increase localization in China.

The Airbus A320 family final assembly line in Tianjin (FALC) is an Airbus joint venture with a Chinese consortium, composing of the Tianjin Free Trade Zone and China Aviation Industry Corp.

It already employs over 400 Chinese, all of them trained to meet Airbus standards, with more than 100 of them qualified enough to work independent of foreign experts' inspections.

According to Jean Luc Charles, general manager of FALC, most Chinese employees have undergone the strictest of training at Airbus factories in Hamburg, Germany and Toulouse, France.

The number of foreigners at the Tianjin plant will gradually be cut to fewer than 50, from the more than 100 when the plant opened, said Charles.

He added that among the five senior management of FALC reporting to him directly, there are currently three Chinese, and more Chinese will be appointed to management level positions.

Regarding the middle management team, Chinese fill 18 of the 25 management positions and, at the very basic level, all work teams are lead by Chinese.

Things have gone smoothly at the Tianjin plant since it began production in 2008. By June 2011, it had delivered 52 A320 jet liners, which are being operated by nine Chinese airlines. It has a monthly production capacity of three of the aircraft.

In 2011, the plant is expected to deliver 36 of the planes, and plans call for more than 100 to be delivered by 2012.

Airbus says it is committed to training more talented people for the aviation sector in China.

Its engineering center in Beijing (Airbus Beijing Engineering Centre) has over 150 Chinese engineers involved in the design work on Airbus jetliners. The company expects to have more work for Chinese engineers if expansion goes as planned.

Another of its joint ventures - Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Centre, which produces composite materials for aviation - has signed a contract for rear passenger doors and other components for the Airbus A350 XWB. By 2015, this joint venture will employ 600 Chinese and handle part of the 5 percent workload for the A350 XWB, which Airbus commits to China aviation industry.

"Several vice-presidents and department heads of Airbus China are Chinese. Important departments involving customer affairs, marketing, and public relations are made up almost entirely of Chinese," said Laurence Barron, president of Airbus China.

"For the most part, they're excellent people and many have been selected to work in factories in Europe, to receive training, while at the same time experiencing the Airbus corporate culture and learning our operational methods. These people will be appointed to higher positions after returning to China - an important step in our localization."

(China Daily 06/24/2011 page5)