Diehl has unveiled plans to move into a new location in Hamburg, as it attempts the complex balancing act of consolidating operations, after a period of rapid growth, while continuing to expand.

The new Hamburg site is part of a plan to reduce the number of its aerosystems division's locations in the city from seven to three. Two locations are conveniently located beside the Airbus plant, while the third, new, site will bring together staff scattered at multiple locations north of the river.

The division has seen phenomenal growth in recent times: “Aviation within Diehl has grown by a factor of five over the past six years – half through organic growth and half by acquisitions,” says divisional president Rainer von Borstel.

It has won work on several major new programmes: the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 and A400M military transport. “We’re in the transition phase from development to the series phase,” says von Borstel, and the company is fine-tuning its operations to handle that ramp-up.

The aerosystems division has three main strands – avionics, cabin electronics and cabin interiors – which, von Borstel says, will work increasingly closely to develop technical synergies, for instance, embedding systems such as electronics or lighting within cabin structures.

Source: Flight Daily News