Flight International - November 10, 2015

ightglobal.com 10-16 November 2015 | Flight International | 45

BUSINESS AVIATION

EMBRAER FLORIDA

the University of São Paulo to form a 1.5-year

Embraer graduate programme. That output is

less than the annual output of aerospace engi-

neering graduates produced by private and

public universities in Florida alone.

QUALIFIED PEOPLE

“Being in Florida enables us to access these

qualified people,” says Paulo Pires, Embraer’s

managing director of the Melbourne engineer-

ing centre. “The American aerospace market

is huge compared to Brazil.”

Embraer aligned the engineering centre to

fill a speciality that does not exist in Brazil.

Several decades of US business jet manufac-

turing has developed a cadre of interiors spe-

cialists – experts in not just seating, monu-

ments and interior walls, but how they fit into

interior systems, including in-flight entertain-

ment and environmental controls.

Third expansion of Embraer’s Melbourne production line is expected to be operational by mid-2016

“These 200 engineers are the

first goal. Beyond that I think

the market will say”

PAULO PIRES

MD, Embraer Melbourne engineering centre

“When you look at the United States, there

is a huge market with a lot of companies,”

Pires says. “When you add these capabilities,

it enables us to think higher than we used to.”

The engineering centre is a turnkey com-

plex for designing and testing premium interi-

ors. The facility houses enough office space

for 200 workers, of whom 100 have already

been hired. These engineers can produce and

test designs with an on-site rapid prototyping

cell able to quickly produce mock-ups of cab-

ins and interior structures. But the physical

products will not always be necessary.

Earlier this year, Embraer leveraged a grant

from Space Florida for an on-site virtual reali-

ty centre. Three-dimensional engineering

drawings developed using Dassault Systèmes

Catia V5 software are available. The drawings

are then projected in 3-D form into full-scale,

virtual models projected onto the floor. Work-

ers wearing specially designed goggles can

virtually walk through a fully designed air-

craft cabin. The system is supplied by camera

maker Canon on a grant from Space Florida.

Such technology goes beyond anything

that Embraer is using in São Jose dos Campos,

its Brazilian headquarters. That has made the

centre’s capabilities attractive beyond the ex-

ecutive jets division. Indeed, with the certifi-

cation of the Legacy 450 last August, Embraer

does not have an announced executive jet in

development for the first time since 2005.

The company, however, is developing a new

family of re-engined and re-winged commercial

regional jets. The E-Jet E2 family have economy-

class cabins that do not demand the kind of spe-

ciality knowledge now available in Melbourne.

But the new E-Jets will be offered with premi-

um-class cabins with amenities not far removed

from Phenom- and Legacy-class private jets.

So Embraer has teamed the Melbourne cen-

tre with its recently acquired seating man-

fuacturer, Embraer AST, to develop business-

class seating for the E2 family of jets.

The role of the Melbourne engineering centre

beyond the E2 will continue to be premium-

class systems. By then, Embraer may finally be

ready to challenge the industry’s elite club of

companies capable of developing ultra-long-

range, large cabin business jets. If the company

decides to make such a move, the Melbourne

site’s new capabilities will be an essential piece

to making the programme a success.

“These [first] 200 engineers are the first

goal. We must get there,” Pires says. “Beyond

that I think the market will say.” ■

cluding easy access to deepwater ports and the
runway of a relatively lightly used commercial
airport. It was also on familiar ground in a state
where it had deep roots. Most important, per-
haps, was the imminent demise of NASA’s
space shuttle programme, with its huge launch
complex in nearby Cape Canaveral. With thou-
sands of trained aerospace engineers and me-
chanics set to enter the job market, Melbourne
offered a perfect location for establishing manu-
facturing and engineering centres in the USA.
The engineering centre started taking shape
soon after Phenom assembly began in 2011.
Embraer employs 4,000 engineers and
2,000 technicians at sites in São Paulo state,
recruited mainly from Brazil’s aeronautical
engineering colleges. The Institute of
Aerospace Technology, for example, produc-
es about 120 graduates per year. Students join
engineering graduates of institutions such as

Embraer

Embraer

Melbourne will assemble

Legacy 450s and 500s

and host Embraer’s

biggest engineering

centre outside of Brazil