Rolls-Royce to merge some Singapore, UK operations

BRITISH engine-maker Rolls-Royce on Thursday said it will consolidate its Singapore aero engine assembly and test volume into its UK operations in Derby.

In addition, the engineering giant will move its wide-chord fan blade manufacturing volume from the UK to consolidate into the Seletar Aerospace Park fan-blade facility in Singapore.

Rolls-Royce in July told The Business Times (BT) it would axe 240 roles - mostly technical - from Singapore starting mid-August, as a result of a global restructuring. That's nearly a quarter of its 1,000-strong workforce in the city-state.

No additional job losses were announced on Thursday.

The transition of the engine assembly and test volume from Singapore to the UK is expected to start in Q3 2021. Rolls-Royce has begun the detailed planning work for this move.

For the employees working at the Singapore assembly and test unit, the company will "proactively seek opportunities" for them within the Rolls-Royce ecosystem, said Bicky Bhangu, the company's president for South-east Asia, Pacific and South Korea.

These potential places were made possible with the expansion of the fan-blade production unit - when the UK volume moves to Singapore - as well as the increased capabilities in Rolls-Royce's maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) joint-venture facility, he added.

Rolls-Royce will also explore options for the assembly and test facility in Singapore to be used for "near-term aerospace growth activities", Dr Bhangu said.

In helping the affected employees through the transition, the British firm is collaborating with the Singapore Economic Development Board, the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees' Union and the National Trades Union Congress' Employment and Employability Institute.

The Singapore-UK moves are part of a major consolidation of the group's aerospace manufacturing facilities into six locations from 11. BBC on Wednesday reported that the engineering giant confirmed plans to close factories in the UK's Nottinghamshire and Lancashire. About 350 jobs are at risk in Lancashire, while 120 staff in Annesley, Nottinghamshire will be offered transfers to the headquarters in Derby.

They were driven by the significant and unprecedented impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global aviation industry and on demand for Rolls-Royce's civil aerospace products and aftermarket services.

"We believe it will deliver an operationally effective and sustainable solution for the reduced level of demand in the commercial aerospace market that is expected to take several years to recover," Dr Bhangu said.

Rolls-Royce noted that it remains fully committed to Singapore as a strategic hub for high-value manufacturing, research and technology, supply chain and its regional power systems business, and as the service centre for the company's Asia-Pacific civil aerospace customers.

The job losses in the city-state announced last month came after Rolls-Royce warned in May that it would slash at least 9,000 jobs worldwide, or over 17 per cent of its global headcount.

About 1,500 jobs are expected to be lost from the manufacturer's Derby headquarters in the UK this year, and more than double that number have expressed interest in voluntary redundancy, according to BBC.

Reuters reported that the company, whose shares have sunk 63 per cent this year, said on Thursday that a total of 4,000 employees worldwide had already left its civil aerospace unit.

Rolls-Royce is also planning to sell assets including Spanish unit ITP Aero, which makes turbine blades for jet engines, to raise at least £2 billion (S$3.61 billion) to boost its balance sheet, which has been dealt a body blow by the pandemic-induced travel slump, Reuters said.