Growth on the way as Moog's Wolverhampton flies high on i54

Moog moved into the purpose-built £20 million plant on the city's i54 development site last summer, leaving behind the Wobaston Road site that had been its home since the original Boulton-Paul aircraft company moved to Wolverhampton in 1936.

Today the 210,000 sq ft factory is a hive of activity, with 450 staff working on a range of civil and military contracts.

The Wolverhampton site produces components for primary and secondary flight control systems and forms part of a $2.5 billion global hi-tech engineering group based in East Aurora, USA.

Of the 450 people working at Moog's Wolverhampton Site, over 150 are working on next generation aircraft projects such as China's new C919 passenger jet.

The Comac C919 will be positioned in the single aisle passenger jet market and has already attracted the interest of major Western airlines including Ryanair and IAG, parent company of British Airways.

Moog in Wolverhampton already has a track record working on some of the biggest modern aircraft projects, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing's ground-breaking 787 Dreamliner.

Moog's operations director at the i54 site, Andy Hughes, said: "The development of modern aircraft requires a world leading test and development facility, such as is contained at Wolverhampton, with full systems integration capability. As a result, Wolverhampton is positioned well for further expansion.

"At the same time we are looking to increase the amount of research and development work we do here and are currently in talks with the UK Government about potential funding to support future opportunities," said Wolverhampton operations director Andy Hughes.

"Our success in securing significant content on platforms such as Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 positions us extremely well for the anticipated growth in the commercial aviation sector."

As well as work on fixed-wing aircraft, the Moog factory is expanding its work on helicopter projects such as the new Bell 525 Relentless and the AgustaWestland AW609, a twin-engined aircraft with tilting rotor blades.

To cater for the new work Moog has invested a further $2 million in recent months on new CNC machine tools on the factory floor.

"Moog has underlined its commitment to its presence in Wolverhampton," said Andy Hughes. "We are making the facility more efficient, putting more investment into the business so we can give customers what they want."

He also believes that the growth of Moog and its neighbours on the i54 will bring benefits for the local community: "As more people work here we are going to need more services, including shops."