Latest news with #industrialrevival
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rolls-Royce plots market domination after ‘Turban Tufan's' turnaround
Five years after Rolls-Royce nearly collapsed under the weight of Covid, the British manufacturing giant is plotting a new era of industrial domination. Under the guidance of boss Tufan Erginbilgiç, nicknamed 'Turbo', Rolls has overcome an era of financial chaos and mismanagement to launch a renewed assault on the jet engine and nuclear power markets. As he declared the next stage of the company's strategy last week, the former BP executive said Rolls's revival will soon contribute 'the single biggest item for economic growth for the UK'. It is far from the gloomy message he told workers after landing as chief executive in 2023, when he described the engineering giant as a 'burning platform'. Speaking at the Paris Air Show last week, he said Rolls is stepping up plans to make engines for the short-haul planes that dominate air travel, after quitting the sector more than a decade ago. To some degree, the announcement encapsulated the radical turnaround at Britain's leading manufacturer, which now has a market capitalisation of £75bn, seven times higher than when Erginbilgiç took over in January 2023. He said talks with potential partners have intensified as Rolls aims to re-enter the £1.6 trillion short-haul aviation market, which will see the company building and maintaining engines for the likes of Ryanair. At the same time, its selection this month as preferred bidder to supply small modular reactors (SMRs) to the new Great British Nuclear has also given Rolls a critical first-mover advantage in the sector, according to the decision has already unleashed huge export interest as nations examine SMRs as a solution to requirements for cheaper power, energy security and 78pc of the SMR supply chain can be satisfied in Britain, he said, compared with just 60pc for offshore together, the two initiatives promise to create about 55,000 jobs across the supply chain, 40,000 of those in the aerospace sector and the rest in nuclear. Airline bosses hailed the return of Rolls to the short-haul market, particularly as it will pile pressure on the incumbents Pratt & Whitney (P&W) and General Electric (GE).József Váradi, the chief executive of low-cost carrier Wizz Air, urged Rolls to avoid teaming up with other engine manufacturers and instead go it alone. His support is perhaps unsurprising after Wizz has suffered years of disruption from defective engines made by P& said: 'I would welcome Rolls-Royce more as a third party as opposed to a joint venture party with one of the current players.'There will be a hell of a lot of growth in narrow-body planes in the future, so I definitely think it can bear more than two. A tripartite market would do a lot better for us.'Bringing a new engine to the market would cost £3bn, according to Erginbilgiç, who called on the Government to provide support matching the levels received by GE and P&W in the US. In return, he said, Rolls would deliver 'the single biggest item for economic growth for the UK'.Rolls's new short-haul turbine would need to produce about 30,000 pounds of thrust, compared with almost 100,000 for its larger A350 engine. He suggested this could be achieved by combining the core of a business jet engine with technology from the ongoing Ultrafan has said it plans to produce a demonstrator engine in two years, hopefully coinciding with Airbus and Boeing's plans to launch new single-aisle models before the end of the Váradi warned that a new engine is likely to come under intense scrutiny in light of problems suffered by the current generation of turbines, as supply chain constraints have triggered maintenance delays and safety concerns. He said: 'The regulator is going to be a lot more rigid and prudent than before, given all the issues in the industry. This is a long game with no room for shortcuts.'Erginbilgiç said he is wedded to a traditional design for the new engine, and has no plans to embrace the 'open rotor' approach being pursued by GE, which features large, curved propeller blades with no casing and aims to replicate the lower fuel burn of turboprop planes. While an open rotor might deliver a 20pc gain in efficiency compared with current engines, Rolls believes it can get within 2pc of that with a more conventional design at far less said: 'Our competitor is a very capable company. But you are changing everything: the aircraft, the engine, so the risk profile is by definition a lot greater.' Boeing has also questioned the use of an open rotor to power the next generation of single-aisle planes, while Erginbilgiç said there are concerns about the additional noise and whether people will want to look out of the window and see such an unusual said: 'I'm not sure passengers would like to see a big fan. Not everybody is comfortable with flying so you need to make it as comfortable and safe as possible.' Meanwhile, Erginbilgiç, who was formerly a partner at private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners, said that the company's SMR venture is now ready for take off after receiving government said the biggest export market is likely to be in Europe, 'where nuclear is the only solution if you want net zero and supply security'. Rolls already has a reactor contract in the Czech Republic and expects to sign a deal in Sweden soon, though the chief executive said that Rolls must carefully manage its order book. Construction of each SMR will take five years initially, he said, with two under way at any given said: 'We need to build our reputation, then business will come. It's not a new technology, but it's a new application. While SMRs are not the same as 'big nuclear,' he said, 'this industry doesn't have a great track record and we don't want to join that group'. However, he said that Rolls-Royce, which has 42,000 staff, holds a crucial advantage in both gas turbines and modular said: 'Only three companies in the world can do [jet engines] and barriers to entry are enormous. 'And if we are not the world leader in SMRs, we did something wrong, because there is no other private company in the world with our nuclear capability.' Asked if he had considered moving on with Rolls-Royce now ready to embark on a new phase in its 120-year history, the 65-year-old said he was 'very committed' and not tempted by potential lucrative rewards elsewhere. He said: 'It's not about money. If money was important, I wouldn't have come from private equity, trust me. I'm here because I would like to be here.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Sign in to access your portfolio
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Rolls-Royce has been fixed and is now going on the attack
Five years after Rolls-Royce nearly collapsed under the weight of Covid, the British manufacturing giant is plotting a new era of industrial domination. Under the guidance of boss Tufan Erginbilgiç, nicknamed 'Turbo', Rolls has overcome an era of financial chaos and mismanagement to launch a renewed assault on the jet engine and nuclear power markets. As he declared the next stage of the company's strategy last week, the former BP executive said Rolls's revival will soon contribute 'the single biggest item for economic growth for the UK'. It is far from the gloomy message he told workers after landing as chief executive in 2023, when he described the engineering giant as a 'burning platform'. Speaking at the Paris Air Show last week, he said Rolls is stepping up plans to make engines for the short-haul planes that dominate air travel, after quitting the sector more than a decade ago. To some degree, the announcement encapsulated the radical turnaround at Britain's leading manufacturer, which now has a market capitalisation of £75bn, seven times higher than when Erginbilgiç took over in January 2023.
