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(Ried im Innkreis, Austria) is a global Tier 1 supplier specializing in composites and lightweight structures across multiple divisions including engines & nacelles, aerostructures and cabin interiors. The company is also successful in the fields of maintenance & repair operations (MRO) and advanced air mobility (AAM). Since CW’s 2014 tour of Plants 1-4 in Austria, FACC has grown significantly, reaching €884.5 million in annual revenue and over 3,800 employees at 15 locations across four continents. While the majority of FACC’s production remains in Austria, its vision for more than 20 years has been to invest globally, including its sister company FESHER Aviation in China and in India via its continued partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL, Hyderabad), where FACC began manufacturing composite components for Rolls-Royce engines in 2009.

“India is on the rise,” notes the July issue of FACC’s magazine, , “offering enormous potential as a manufacturing and service location” and “an attractive location for FACC to further diversify its supply chain.” Indeed, using such locations to further strengthen its flexibility and resiliency is key to the company’s vision of helping to meet the global demand for more than 42,000 new commercial aircraft by 2043 and capitalizing on continued opportunities for growth. 

FACC is also investing in new technologies, recognized as a finalist for the 2025 JEC Composites Innovation Award in the aerospace category for an aeroengine exit guide vane made from thermoplastic composites (TPC) in a hybrid molding process. Recognizing potential for TPC across its businesses, FACC has been a member of the ThermoPlastic Composites Research Center (TPRC) since 2021 and participates in the COMPASS project using digital technologies to advance recycling of TPC parts.

Legacy and future in composite interiors

FACC began developing aircraft interiors in the early 1990s with the MD-95. It now supplies aircraft interiors for every major aerospace OEM including composite components and assembled modules for galleys, lavatories, sidewalls, baggage bins, partitions/dividers, ceilings, entryways and cockpits. For these products, FACC is pursuing its BIOS-Future Cabin concept.

“We’re currently working on bio-based resins to replace the phenolic resin currently used,” explains FACC CEO Robert Machtlinger. “Our goal is more sustainable products that will retain light weight and durability but also make our processes more efficient. We have already trialed such resins in several lower-volume applications with success, including much better surface finish.”

“TPC materials could also be used,” he continues. “We’ve seen this for some time for parts like automotive dashboards, which come out of the mold or press with the surface finish already integrated. This approach could eliminate operations like surface preparation and painting, but also offer much more flexibility, both in our manufacturing and in customization options for the customer. To meet global aircraft demand, production rates must continue to increase. If we want to achieve a real step change in composites, we need to adopt new technologies. Significant improvements aren’t possible with current materials and processes.” (See further discussion in “Future for new composites, growth in interiors” below.)

“When new technology is implemented for aircraft interiors,” says Machtlinger, “it will go to FACC Plant 6 in Croatia.” This 15,000-square-meter facility near Zagreb is the company’s long-term Aircraft Interiors Center of Excellence, with room to expand and a focus on meeting the need for increased mass production of high-quality interiors for large commercial aircraft.

Plant 6 – Interiors Center of Excellence

As part of its strategy to expand its international footprint, FACC decided to invest in Croatia right before COVID-19 hit, explains Matija Ferić (“FEH-reej”), CFO of FACC Plant 6. “The company moved forward, believing that production would return and then increase, and completed Phase I construction in 2021, with first parts delivered in December of that year. Phase II expansion, which began in summer 2023, was completed in September 2024.”

“We now have a workforce of more than 400 employees,” adds Edvin Brčić (“BUR-cheej”), COO of FACC Plant 6, noting that 85-90% of its production is for Airbus interiors.

“This site was not set up to be just one facility, but to play a major role in FACC’s global manufacturing,” says Ferić. “We have established a firm foundation and shown that we can meet goals for increasing production. And though we are still missing some steps of the full process chain — such as the presses — this, too, is moving forward.”

Path for increased automation

“The processes we wanted to establish in Croatia first are the most labor-intensive, primarily the surface preparation to make sure that interiors components are ready for application of the final finish,” explains Machtlinger. “And now this final finish step has been automated in Plant 6 with the new paint line [see “Automated paint line” below]. But the surface preparation operations of sanding and filling are hard to automate. We did investigate this, but there are still many parts with radiused areas that are difficult to sand robotically and require the skill of a human hand. We found that a robot could only replace about 10% of labor hours. In the end, achieving the look and feel that our customers want to see remains a very manual process.”

“So, our first priority is to automate the front-loaded processes,” he continues, “including layup and press molding of the parts as well as loading and unloading the press. This is what we are doing now, and where we see a real advantage in reducing cost and labor with relatively straightforward automation. The remaining labor required will be combined with this automation to reach the next level of supply chain performance for commercial aircraft interiors.”

Until now, laminates for interiors have been pressed in Austria’s Plant 2 and shipped to Plant 6 in Croatia. “The first new press will be installed later this year,” says Brčić, noting Plant 6 has been designed to accommodate nine presses. “After the first press is commissioned, we will no longer receive parts from Plant 2 but will instead procure prepreg and honeycomb and press our own parts.”

“We are also looking at installing a clean room and autoclave in the future,” adds Ferić, “which will expand our portfolio of possible products.”

Operations in the current process chain include CNC milling, pre-assembly and surface preparation, including applying fill and putty and sanding, says Brčić, “followed by assembly of wiring, brackets and many other parts, before inspection of final assemblies and shipment to FACC in Austria where some are further integrated into larger modules and then sent to Airbus final assembly lines.”

“These assembly operations are also not easy to automate,” notes Machtlinger. “Plant 6 today may seem to use mostly manual processes across a large volume of parts, but once the presses and automated paint line are at full speed, combined with our CNC operations, this facility will appear more balanced between manual and automated operations. We may also add some cobots working alongside people to help optimize time and cost for certain assembly operations at the end of the process chain.”

“Another issue is that interiors are not as standardized as aerostructures,” says Ferić. “For example, each airline has their own configurations for seating, baggage bins, lavatories, etc. So, even as the industry demands a higher production rate overall, there are many different series of parts that must be made, which adds complexity and lowers standardization.”

Machtlinger notes that FACC’s approach is to try to keep products as standardized as possible to maximize production output and minimize cost. “Up to the CNC machining, all hat racks, ceiling panels and baggage bin doors are essentially the same per aircraft model and sometimes across multiple models. But once we drill holes and perform custom trimming, then we have conformed a product to the individual specifications by Lufthansa or Air France, for example. Note that from that point, it only takes 2-3 days for us to complete the part and begin preparing it for shipment.”

Plant layout, capacity, training and quality system

From the first floor conference room, we enter the main corridor which connects all the production areas. “When we designed this facility with the Fraunhofer Institute,” notes Ferić, “we laid it out to reduce non-value-added steps. Parts flow straight from north to south through the facility.”

The process chain starts with receiving of pressed laminates and blanks for parts from Austria in Area 1 and moves through CNC machining (Area 2) and pre-assembly, which includes putty/filling, sanding and surface prep (3-4) and the automated paint line (5),  followed by final assembly (6) and logistics (7). The final assembly area has a ground level for larger and more complex parts plus a mezzanine for smaller parts. Areas 3-5 are the largest and where the most labor-intensive activities occur, and all of the areas have inspection gates where parts must pass quality checks before they can proceed.

Here, we are joined by aerospace engineer and program manager, Bruna Jurić (YOO-reej) and process/manufacturing engineer, Ivan Cindrić (TSEEN-dreej). “Our engineering team is currently 45 people, focused mainly on production,” says Jurić. “We do some work with the R&D team in Austria, but especially with the main engineering office there, and are fully connected as Plant 6.”

The engineering team will increase as this site continues growing, with expectations to reach nearly 600 employees by 2028. “That is our target for 100% capacity utilization,” says Ferić. “This year, we will reach 60% utilization of our current capacity, which is 1 million production hours.”

“Croatia had the second largest ship producer in the world in the 1990s,” he adds. “It’s no longer in operation, but we’ve been able to easily scale our production team, sending key personnel to Austria for training. They come back and then train their work groups. We maintain a strict training matrix.”

This matrix is also part of the site’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Each part has a barcode which enables tracking. “We can see where every part is, who is working on it, how much time it has spent at each area and the projected completion date, plus other KPIs,” says Ferić. Regarding the training matrix, a worker will scan his/her badge and the part’s barcode, then check the production step to be completed. “If you don’t have the training qualification to do that step, you won’t be cleared to do the work,” he explains. “This enables traceability, which is key. We know which materials have been used, which operators have worked on each part and which batch of components have been installed in each assembly.”

Laminates and CNC machining

Our tour begins in Area 1 where all incoming parts and laminates are inspected. Cleared parts are sent to CNC milling while damaged parts are sent to rework. “We don’t scrap many parts,” notes Jurić, “which is important to reduce waste not only for cost but also our environmental footprint. We try to save every part by doing repair ourselves, such as parts that have delaminations or porosity in core splice edges.”

Cindrić shows a hand layup/autoclave-cured component for a door frame lining and a pressed laminate for a baggage bin door. Throughout this tour, we will follow the progress of these stowbin doors.

Both of these parts will next move through a large roll-up door into Area 2 for CNC machining. On the right is a large CNC machine (, Eislingen, Germany) and a space ready for installing a second such cell when needed. On the left are three milling machines (, Frickenhausen, Germany). There are also numerous shelves with machining jigs and fixtures.

“For each of the milling machines, we have one table in process and one outside the cell being loaded, so that as a part is finished, the next one is ready, to help maximize machine utilization,” says Cindrić. One more CNC milling machine will be installed this year, and all of the machines are connected into the site’s ERP and tracking system.

Pre-assembly Areas 3 and 4

We next move into the pre-assembly bay. As we walk into this area, we see some belly fairings on the left and in front of us are A320 ram air inlets — this forward-facing air intake is part of the aircraft’s environmental control system (ECS). The baggage bin door has now been trimmed to have a specific radius on certain edges and inserts have been installed into its glass fiber-reinforced phenolic prepreg and honeycomb-cored laminate.

There are two sides within the pre-assembly Area 3. On the left is fastener insert installation and trimming, while an area on the right is where multiple composite components are adhesively bonded into larger units. These are cured for 1-2 hours in two ovens here, with another oven at the back of this area where rework is completed. Some parts, such as the ram air inlets, also combine external parts such as the plastic air outlet panel which is basically a vent cover.

In the back of this bay is the commissioning area. This is the second such area where parts must pass inspection before moving to the next bay in the pre-assembly section of the facility. We walk into the rework area where parts are being repaired. This can include edge filling. If the core splice adhesive at the edge of a part is broken or has porosity, for example, then the edge is filled with adhesive, cured and sanded.

The adjacent Area 4 in pre-assembly comprises the putty and filler application, followed by sanding. Most parts require two to three cycles of these steps. Cindrić holds up two parts illustrating the progress between cycles. The one on top has been sanded and received a first layer of putty with its edge shaped to a specified radius. The bottom part has more layers of filler and a second layer of putty. As we walk down the hall, sanding bays are to the left and a dust removal station is at the end. Large roll-up doors to our right allow parts that have putty and filler applied to be shuttled directly to the sanding bays.

We turn right at the dust removal station and open a door to enter the putty and filler area. An enclosed room to the left is where filler is sprayed onto the parts. The rest of this bay contains all kinds of stations where workers apply putty to specific areas of a wide variety of parts. Large roll-up doors on the right allow parts to be first dried and then shuttled into the sanding bays. These parts will then move through the dust removal station and cycle through filler and putty again if needed.

Here, Jurić shows a production KPI board with headings Quantity, Takt, Errors and Standards. Quantity shows all the employees in that area and all work tasks for the day. Takt tracks cycle time for various operations. Errors shows first pass yield and quality levels for the past few weeks, while Standards track safety and housekeeping/cleaning in this area. “The idea is to get workers involved by meeting daily for both first and second shifts to track our production and performance,” she explains. “We also want to get their ideas because they are the experts at their jobs and stations. We want to acknowledge their capabilities, encourage contributions and enable continuous improvement. We also are planning to upgrade these KPI boards to digital versions in the future.”

Automated paint line

We exit this area back into the hall next to the dust removal station and walk through an air lock into Area 5, which houses paint operations. From the front of this area, we can see non-automated operations extending to the back on the left. These have been the norm until now and include small rooms for applying primer and topcoat. After parts are sprayed, they are dried in one of several ovens.

The centerpiece of this area is the new automated paint line supplied by  (Figino Serenza, Italy), which is the largest equipment investment at this facility. Smaller-quantity and more complex-geometry parts are not the priority for automation, notes Cindrić, and will continue to be painted in the traditional way. “But the parts that present the surface the passengers see are very important for the airlines and are also the highest volume for us. We automate the final painting of these parts to improve repeatability, reduce human error and increase process stability.”

The process is fully automated through several steps. For example, baggage bin doors first get a smooth layer which is dried and then followed by a texture coat where the paint is deposited in a kind of speckled pattern. The doors get painted on both sides but only their exteriors get the texture coat. Jurić notes it has been a challenge to achieve this surface texture for the stowbin doors. “Our painters have learned how to do this by hand, but in the automated system, this had to be configured by optimizing various parameters to achieve the final finish specified by Airbus and its customers.”

An operator demonstrates the automated line for us. “First, he will load the parts onto the conveyor,” says Cindrić. “We can fit six doors in one tray and multiple trays in a row. Then, he selects which paint will be used. The paint is prepared by the system using an automated mixer and then sent to the paint guns. Paint and process specifications have been entered into the system for the specific parts being painted, such as these baggage bin doors.”

“The parts get scanned several times before painting begins to check their geometry and position,” adds Jurić. The machine then applies paint. Next, parts go into a flash oven. After that, the second texture coat is applied, followed by another flash oven cycle and then a final cycle in the drying oven. The operator can see every process stage and the status of all process parameters. For example, in the flash oven, the painted doors move through multiple steps and the operator can track this progress. Jurić notes the ovens can’t be opened during operation without a deliberate override of the integrated safety system.

“Finished parts are then taken to the inspection station here and once they pass this quality gate, they move into the adjacent area for final assembly,” says Cindrić. “Every part is inspected for gloss and with spectroscopy to check for thickness, as well as for pinholes, scratches or other defects.”

Final assembly

This area was part of the Phase II expansion, says Cindrić. “There is still some empty space, but it will be filled soon. In addition to assembly, some parts will receive a final decorative laminate.” For example, sidewalls are not painted but instead a polymer film like Tedlar is applied for a final durable, aesthetic surface. “We apply heat and vacuum to the decorative thermoplastic foil to conform it to the composite sidewall,” adds Cindrić.

We walk upstairs to the mezzanine that extends across the majority of this final assembly area, where electrical wires, foam bumpers and inserts, lights, brackets and other components are installed. “We also combine multiple composite parts into a single module,” says Cindrić. “We use special jigs for each part assembly. The workers can pull up all the drawings they need on screens at each station using an internal material number which is connected to all the related specifications.”

“They scan the barcode to enter the work number,” adds Jurić, “and then pull up everything they need, including the list of parts and hardware. Everything in this system is also automatically updated, which is key to minimize issues, because part revisions are pretty frequent.”

We come back down from the mezzanine and walk toward the front of the building where the final inspection stations are located for assembled parts and modules. From here, we walk left and pass through a door into Area 7 for logistics, where parts are prepared for shipping out to FACC Austria.

This section is divided between the front of the building where inbound auxiliary materials, hardware, consumables and other supplies are received and stored on large floor-to-ceiling racks. Finished parts packed in boxes or special containers awaiting loading onto trucks are in the area toward the back of the building. Jurić notes trucks are loaded and leave every day, sometimes as often as four times per day.

Future for new composites, growth in interiors

As we walk back to the facility’s front lobby, Jurić notes that the Croatian workforce here has formed into a strong team. “They are creative problem-solvers and open to discussion, always approachable and willing to listen. We are a very lean and fast-growing operation. While this presents many challenges, it’s also exciting to be part of this team opening up not just this new site, but this new vision for FACC.”

“We are located apart from Austria but fully connected to it, and with a copy and paste of its standards and systems for FACC’s global quality output,” adds Ferić. “We are continuing to scale production and when we expand, we will mirror this facility’s layout into an adjacent building but with additional capabilities and improvements to further enhance flexibility as the aircraft industry continues to change.”

“Ultimately, removing the manual work in the surface preparation of aircraft interior components will require new materials,” notes Machtlinger, “because the current phenolic prepregs generate too many volatiles and create the pinholes which necessitate filling and sanding operations to make the surfaces flat and smooth for application of paint or films. But there is interest from both OEMs and airlines to start using new composites technologies.”

He notes trends where airlines and operators are willing to pay for customizations that enhance the travel experience for their passengers. “We are already seeing this in the business jet market, and in the long term, a new approach will be needed to enable this flexibility at an affordable cost.”

OEMs are also looking at how to enable customization and reduce cost, says Machtlinger, “developing new concepts and processes for how fuselage structures can work with interiors to reduce assembly time and weight while improving flexibility for their customers. But this also requires a different interface with the power system than what is being used today.” He notes one solution is to print wire harnesses onto the rear face of aircraft interior sidewalls, which would be similar to how smartphones are made. “This not only eliminates the weight of wiring harnesses but also the multistep logistics, reducing cost and simplifying installation for the OEM, which then helps to meet increased aircraft production rates at affordable costs.” Similarly, TPC parts with molded-in attachment fittings and features are also being explored.

“There is a lot of work going into the development of these future technologies,” he continues, “which for sure will be used in the next generation of single-aisle [NGSA] aircraft to enter service by 2035, but there are advancements possible even before then.” Citing multiple upgrades in interiors design from Airbus (e.g., Enhanced Cabin, Airspace Cabin), Machtlinger points out that widebody aircraft have been in service for 15 years with no new models in planning. “Customers are already looking at possible interiors upgrades. We see an opportunity for new composites technologies to be tested in such an in-between step before NGSA, providing a refresh and new options, possibly even in the next 2-3 years.”

“We see growth coming,” concludes Machtlinger. “I expect further expansion in Croatia in the next 2 years, with the next phase on the blueprints and as our Aircraft Interiors Center of Excellence, new customer orders will go to Plant 6.”