Adient Looks to Expand Into Aviation Market with Boeing -- Update
March 27 2017 - 4:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Chester Dawson
DETROIT -- Automotive seating supplier Adient PLC is considering
entering the aerospace business, announcing plans Monday to work
with Boeing Co. to explore development of seating for aircraft.
The recent spinoff of Johnson Controls Inc., which is one of the
world's top two suppliers of passenger car seats, is signaling it
wants a piece of the growing market for aircraft interiors. The
move comes as global sales growth for passenger vehicles is
expected to slow, with record high demand for cars in key markets
such as the U.S. forecast to decline slightly this year.
"We believe there's an opportunity for Adient to raise the bar
on the aviation passenger experience, building on our leadership in
the automobile seat market," Adient CEO Bruce McDonald said in a
statement.
Beyond its collaboration with Boeing, Adient says it is open to
working with other big aircraft manufacturers, which could include
Airbus SE, Bombardier Inc. and Embraer SA.
Global light vehicle sales surged 4.6% last year, but IHS Markit
estimates the pace of growth will slow to 1.8% this year and 1.4%
in 2018.
Adient and rival Lear Corp. control about half of the passenger
car seating market, which RnR Market Research values at around $70
billion currently and expects to grow to $84 billion by 2020. That
dwarfs the $14.1 billion aircraft interior market, but demand for
aviation seating and other interior components is projected to
nearly double by 2025, according to Counterpoint Market
Intelligence Ltd.
Boeing's relationship with Adient is an effort to provide a
"wider range of options and more reliable, on-time performance in
the airplane interiors and seating category," Kent Fisher, vice
president of supplier management for the aerospace company's
commercial unit, said in a statement.
Boeing has been shaking up its supply chain in an effort to cut
costs. Last April, the aircraft manufacturer said it would promote
economy-class seats made by Lift, a unit of Encore Corporate Inc.
and new entrant into the aircraft seating supply business.
In 2016, the biggest seating suppliers on Boeing aircraft were
B/E Aerospace Inc., the world's largest maker of plane seats,
France's Zodiac Aerospace SA and Recaro group of Germany, said
George Burton, a director at Counterpoint.
While Adient leases the Recaro brand name for high-end
automotive seating, a spokesman said it would not use that name to
market aircraft seats sales if it does decide to enter that line of
business.
Adient became independent of Johnson Controls in October, and
has corporate offices in Plymouth, Mich. even though it retains its
former parent's incorporation in Ireland for tax purposes.
--Doug Cameron contributed to this article.
Write to Chester Dawson at chester.dawson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2017 16:24 ET (20:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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