Interview with Uwe Fresenborg, Plant Manager at Premium AEROTEC in Varel

Mr. Fresenborg, you have been plant manager in Varel since November 2008. Would you give us a short account of your professional career and what motivated you to take on the plant management in Varel?

I’ve been in aviation for around 20 years and predominantly with AIRBUS. I started as a development engineer in Bremen, went on to be Head of Development in Hamburg, Administrative Department Manager with international responsibility in Toulouse, Head of Production Services and Single Item Production in Hamburg, Project Head for the A380 fuselage rear and front sections in Hamburg and Project Manager of ZEPHYR (transfer of the Laupheim, Varel and Nordenham works) in Hamburg. After around two decades of performing various tasks for AIRBUS I’m more than glad to be contributing my experience to the newly founded Premium AEROTEC GmbH. I’m very happy to be doing my bit in developing a new and successful first tier supplier for the aviation industry.

Airbus spun off the works in Augsburg, Nordenham and Varel and transferred them under the auspices of EADS to a newly structured company named Premium Aerotec GmbH. What is to be expected in this context of Airbus, the main customer, and – as a "preferred supplier" – do you also want to or rather, are you also able to supply others such as Boeing?

Premium AEROTEC is a "preferred supplier" for AIRBUS and already a supplier for Boeing as regards the 787 "Dreamliner" Program and for EADS as regards the Eurofighter Program. One of our corporate goals is, of course, to continue to promote diversification. We want to expand our customer base with new civil aviation orders – those coming into question in this respect are, for example, Embraer, Boeing or Bombardier – and new military aviation orders.

Recent years at Airbus have been dominated by the Power8 restructuring plan. What effects does the cost-cutting programme still have on the locations and, if I may ask, for Nordenham?

The Power8 plan helps us improve our competitiveness and in turn, to acquire new orders. By means of the Power8 plan we will continue to improve and establish ourselves effectively as a "preferred supplier" in the aviation industry.

You are currently developing a new location quality in the areas of machining and jig manufacturing. What exactly is happening in and around your factory in that respect?

We are talking here of the so-called "square". Each of its four corners is important to further develop the location of Varel for its role as a "preferred supplier" in Premium AEROTEC. The first corner is the factory. New A350 work packages (door frame assembly, floor grid assembly, titanium machining) and investments in competitiveness are laying the ground for preparing us for the future.

The next three corners will be developed in successful cooperation with the administrative district of Friesland, the city of Varel and the state of Lower Saxony.

The second corner is the industry park. Further competitive advantages are to be expected by the location of suppliers for the Varel factory and the proximity to the industry park connected with this. Important for us in this respect is that the newly located businesses diversify as quickly as possible so that the customer base is a broad one.

The third corner is the Training Centre. People as a competitive advantage are becoming increasingly important. We want to achieve the best possible level of education for our region and Lower Saxony by offering high-tech professional training and vocational training and further education.

The fourth corner is a Technology Centre for machining. This Technology Centre will be active internationally and bring together market-leading users, manufacturers of machining technology and research institutes to face the demands of the future together.

Finally, Mr. Fresenborg, allow me the following question: what distinguishes the people here from those at other locations? What are they good at and what has to be improved?

I have seen all AIRBUS locations. The Frisians though are different. In a positive sense, of course! They are very bonded with the location. There is nothing comparable at other locations. On the other hand it takes a lot of energy to persuade them to "aid and abet" change. When they are convinced, however, they march ahead, no ifs and buts. That is the task of confident management and thus also my task – one that I really enjoy.