MHI's Commercial Aircraft Component Production Plant in Vietnam

Since the launch of commercial production in September 2009, MHIVA has steadily increased its production capacity of the flaps for the Boeing 737, which have been shipped to MHI's Nagoya Aerospace Systems Works for final inspection, and then delivered to Boeing. Beginning in November the flaps produced at MHIVA will be shipped directly to the Boeing 737 Plant in Renton, WA.

MHIVA, capitalized at US$7 million, was established in December 2007 at the Thang Long Industrial Park (TLIP) near central Hanoi as Vietnam's first company to engage in commercial aircraft component production. The company currently has approximately 90 employees. It will concentrate on 737 flap production for some time to come with support from Boeing, and looks to expand production in response to Boeing's plan to increase output of the 737.

Flaps are hinged surfaces on the trailing edge of an airplane's wings that serve to enhance the aircraft's lift force. The increased lift generated by the flaps allows the airplane to obtain necessary lift at slow speeds during takeoff and landing.

The 737 family is Boeing's best-selling short-to-medium-range commercial airplane, with more than 6,000 deliveries to date including the initial models, the "Classics" and today's "Next-Generation" lineup. MHI began producing flaps for the Next-Generation 737 models in 1996, and in 2009 the company marked production of flap sets for 3,000 airplanes. It undertook expansion of its production bases last fall with the addition of MHIVA.

MHI presently has multiple large-scale projects under way in the aerospace business. These include full-scale production of composite material wing boxes for the super-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner and manufacture of the MRJ (Mitsubishi Regional Jet), a next-generation regional jet.

Now that production of Next-Generation 737 flaps in Vietnam is solidly on track, going forward MHI will enhance the capabilities of its overseas bases further, beginning with production of existing components such as metal parts, aiming to expand its commercial aircraft business through dynamic linking of its domestic and overseas bases.