Here at the Paris Air Show, U.S. aerospace equipment manufacturer Lord Corporation (Chalet 53) is celebrating expanded European activities after reporting 40-percent total growth during three years of operations in the region.

Lord is continuing the growth strategy established in 2014, with an emphasis on acquisition and fixed-wing commercial aircraft programs, as well as becoming less U.S.-centric and expanding its manufacturing footprint, the group's aerospace and defense president Bill Cerami told AIN.

In Europe, that strategy covers plans for significant investment in support of commercial aircraft manufacture, with an emphasis on acquisitions, technological innovation and further development of the aftermarket base.

Beyond Europe, Lord reports Asian successes in China, where it supplies the twin-turboprop Xian Aircraft MA700, and in South Korea, where it supports two helicopter programs. The company specializes in devices to control the effects of motion, noise and vibration and develops adhesives and coatings for aerospace, defense and other industries.

Another plank in Lord's strategy is to reduce dependence on helicopter programs, in which military business has been very strong, said Cerami. Slightly more than half of Lord's aerospace and defense business is in helicopters and the company wants to rebalance the portfolio.

Seeing itself as a solutions partner in European rotary-wing manufacturing, with several of the company's control technologies integral to major programs, Lord recognizes that industry's reduced fortunes. "The [diminished] price of oil has a great influence on the rotary-wing element of [our] business," said Cerami.

Now, Cerami sees opportunities for Lord to develop existing relations with Denmark's Satair Group, established under a 2015 non-exclusive agreement. Satair performs aftermarket sales, distribution, and support for many Lord isolation mounts and other products equipping Airbus, Boeing, and Bombardier aircraft in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. A wholly owned (but independent) Airbus subsidiary, Satair offers sales, services, and warehousing to customers and suppliers through centers in the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Other European activities see Lord working on an active vibration-control system for Leonardo (the former Finmeccanica), which provides a good match for our applications, according to global sales, marketing and strategy director Rachid Bendali. Lord has collaborated with major manufacturers such as Airbus, Dassault, Pilatus, Saab and Safran.

An example of Lord's European expansion-by-acquisition in its search for a more balanced business is that of former SKF subsidiary Fly-by-Wire Systems France (FbW), whose captive technology team is expected to strengthen the company's presence in the commercial aircraft market. This deal, closed 12 months ago, has been followed by a year of integration, according to Cerami, who reported significant progress as Lord has made long-term agreements with major FbW customers.

At acquisition, FbW's expertise in actuation, electronics and sensing was seen as providing $35 million-$40 million of annual revenue. It gave the U.S. company substantial capacity in advanced-systems “solutions” for aircraft and helicopters. FbW's cockpit controls, dampers, electro-mechanical actuators and sensors are used primarily for commercial aircraft fly-by-wire systems, and the purchase globalizes the French company's rotary-wing business outside Europe, said Cerami.

The company sees the purchase as enabling it to offer a broader value proposition to customers, while widening its customer base and providing access to FbW's legacy business. Buying the French supplier, which has worked with Airbus since the early 1980s and equips all its current production models, also has boosted Lord's aspirations to support market trends toward greater electrification of aircraft.

The company also has secured funds to build a new, larger factory for which formal approval (subject to possible community objection) has been received with Lord hoping to proceed with construction by next month, said aerospace new ventures managing director Guy Billoud.

Billoud is based in Geneva, Switzerland, where Lord has its regional headquarters for Europe, a technology center, and engineering, manufacturing, and research and development interests. He said that Lord's aerospace new ventures business represents inorganic acquisitions with an emphasis on Europe.

The U.S. manufacturer also participates in pan-European environmental-research programs such as Clean Sky 1 and 2 and Horizon 2020. The Clean Sky 2 program provides Lord with contracts worth around Euros 5 million ($5.4 million) and the company is part of a European consortium developing a next stage system for an ultra-high bypass engine. Partners include Germany's Heggemann (as manufacturer), Italian university Politecnic di Milano (for testing) and Italian engineering consultancy Vicoter (engineering).

Under Clean Sky 1, Lord has developed an engine-attachment system for application on an open-rotor (OR) powerplant to reduce vibration in the event of a rotor blade being damaged or lost. With France's Safran Aircraft Engines, Lord is part of a geared, counter-rotating or trial in which it is working to counter vibration transmission through the engine's fuselage mounting.

Most recently, the system has been installed on a ground rig that might have had its first run by the time of this week's show, said Lord A&D EMEA managing director Marcello Campanelli. Safran described the OR one of the exciting new engine architectures under development as part of, in this case, Clean Sky 2's Sustainable and Green Engine (SAGE) Integrated Technology Demonstrator.

Campanelli told AIN that, as airlines are now introducing latest-technology engines in the form of Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofans and CFM International Leap-1 powerplants, the big dilemma is whether further Clean Sky developments can offer similar improvements.