Airbus Defence & Space is working with Laroche Engineering and Cetim to assist its Kazakh subsidiary, Ghalam, to develop a manufacturing workshop for the space industry.
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Kazakhstan is located at the north west of the Caspian Sea and is currently records a 3% annual growth. Its wealth comes from its mines, oil and the space centre at Baikonur. This strategic position has not escaped the attention of Airbus Defence & Space (Airbus DS, formerly Astrium), who signed a cooperation agreement with Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary (KGS), the Kazakh space agency, in 2009. This agreement led to a Joint Venture named Ghalam LLP. This aims to start constructing and opening a satellite assembly, integration and test centre (SBIK) and a manufacturing centre for satellite equipment (SKTB). The project is also expected to launch two Earth observation satellites, manufactured by Airbus DS, into orbit and manage future satellites as part of the Kazakh space plan. As explained by Jean-Pierre Guérin, project leader for Airbus DS, "With respect to future satellites, the aim is to construct a mechanical workshop and a test laboratory allocated a team of approximately a dozen operators, in view of manufacturing satellite parts and conducting tests prior to launch". He continued "We selected Laroche Engineering to design the manufactu-ring workshop for precision mechanical parts, select the machines and industrialise the parts. We selected Cetim to train Ghalam engineers."
Customised training
Training sessions have been organised at the different Cetim sites over a period of 2.5 months and have involved a wide range of experts from all fields: machining, tool management and materials analysis, specifically focusing on aluminium and titanium. Jean-Pierre Guérin then added that "the Kazakh teams were very impressed with Cetim's services, which opened up real prospects for the Centre in the market, either alone or working with French firms. The partnership concluded between Laroche Engineering and Cetim for this project provides an effective means of establishing long-term relationships in these markets, which have significant potential for development."
By working with Laroche Engineering, Cetim can allocate its various experts and meet the global requirements of French firms both in France and abroad.
