Daher announces the new “Succeed Together” strategic plan and underscores its strong ambitions for the 2018-2022 timeframe
Daher – an aircraft manufacturer, and equipment and service supplier for industry – today announced a very satisfactory 2017, culminating in the successful completion of its “Performance 2017” strategic plan that reinforced the company’s robustness. Daher now has set its sights on asserting itself as a key player, providing products and services with an even higher added value, a better geographical balance with the North American continent, and digitalization at all levels.
A very positive 2017, confirming the year’s objectives For the third consecutive year, Daher had a turnover (revenue) of more than one billion euros, reaching nearly 1.1 billion euros for all its industry and services activities – an increase of 3.7 percent from 2016. This dynamic also is reflected in a record order intake of 1.3 billion euros during 2017.
From a business point of view, 2017 was marked by growth in all Daher activities:
- Aircraft manufacturing: 57 TBM very fast turboprop aircraft were ordered in 2017, the second best commercial year in the legendary aircraft’s history. This record level of orders confirms the success of the TBM product range, with the TBM 910 and TBM 930 versions having been launched during the past two years.
- Aerostructures and systems: Sales increased by 4 percent, marked by a strengthening of commercial relations with Airbus on the one hand, and the development of new contracts with North American aircraft and engine manufacturers on the other hand.
- Logistics and supply chain: With activity up 1.5 percent in 2017, the year was marked by Daher’s win of the Airbus logistics management contract for all its production sites in France (Airbus 3PL+). As a result, 1,400 new employees have been integrated into the framework of this contract as of January 1, 2018.
In parallel, Daher completed numerous restructuring projects, focusing on the automation and digitization of factories and warehouses, operational excellence and the development of its industrial strategy and services (notably, new facilities at Querétaro in Mexico; and Savannah, Georgia in the United States). In addition, as a guarantee of its long-term strategic vision and confidence in the company, the Daher family increased its share in the company’s capital during 2017 – from 80 percent to 87.5 percent – with the remaining 12.5 percent belonging to BPI.
“We are successfully completing our ‘Performance 2017’ strategic plan which, through numerous investments, has made Daher a major player,” commented Didier Kayat, the Daher Chief Executive Officer. “The company has achieved the goals of becoming a strong, responsible and innovative company. What makes us unique are: our aircraft manufacturing business, which allows us to have a global vision of the value chain; our capital structure of a family nature; and our unique position at the convergence of industry and services.”An ambitious strategic plan through 2022 to become a key playerDaher’s new strategic plan through 2022, called “Succeed Together,” aims to make the group a key player in its markets, a pioneering supplier in its business sectors, with a wealth of human capital and committed to long-term customer relationships.
“Succeed Together” is based on three transformational cornerstones for Daher:
- Increasing the added value of its products and services, as well as their profitability: Daher wishes to continue its development of complex sets and the use of new materials, as well as high-technology deliverables and services.
Daher already has begun this process, as demonstrated by the realization of a fully thermoplastic aircraft wing spar as part of the future composite aircraft project spearheaded by CORAC (COnseil pour la Recherche Aéronautique Civile – the Council for Civil Aviation Research), as well as the signing of a partnership with the Contextor start-up for a solution to automate IT and administrative tasks in improving the efficiency of supply chain functions serving industrial customers.
- Serving current customers with increased exigence, and developing a significant portion of sales in North America with the aim of representing one-third of the global turnover in 2022. Daher is focusing on two strong axes to attain this goal, benefitting from the creation of a dedicated local team:
- The development of contracts with North American aircraft manufacturers. Daher has signed its first contract with Boeing to supply thermoplastic parts for the 787 Dreamliner. The company is now working with both aircraft and engine manufacturers in America;
- Strong growth, be it organic and/or external with the purchase of an American industrial player.
- Becoming an industry reference in digital and innovation: Daher has launched several initiatives to constantly test innovative tools from other industry sectors, which go beyond the company’s efforts for automation and robotization that already are in progress, as well as those involving the Daher Lab:
- Armstrong by Daher: a San Francisco-based team, whose triple mission is to bring Silicon Valley’s culture to enhance the company’s high potential; build relationships with the start-up ecosystem; and introduce new technologies into the company’s industry and services businesses.
- Daher Analytics: A Big Data utilization and analysis cell, which applies to both production tools and business aircraft. In this context, Daher has launched the “Me & My TBM” application that provides counsel and analysis from TBM data (flight optimization, predictive maintenance…) for TBM pilots.
- The upcoming launch of a subsidiary dedicated to supply chain software.
“The new ‘Succeed Together’ strategic plan’s goal is to continue the dynamic growth of Daher, exceeding a turnover of 1.5 billion euros in 2022. Our challenge will be to sustain our efforts in all market segments and anticipate the needs of our customers,” concluded Daher CEO Didier Kayat.
These ambitions will be accompanied by, and supported with, a CSR (corporate social responsibility) policy that guarantees the unifying values of Daher. It notably will result in the creation of a foundation uniting business and family.
