The Business Segments

In the aftermath of the pandemic, RUAG Aerostructures succeeded in stabilising its business performance, increasing sales and operating in the black. Net sales rose year-on-year from CHF 209 million to CHF 235 million. EBIT increased from CHF 5 million to CHF 43 million. A significant share of the positive result is attributable to the reversal of provisions and value adjustments created in 2020 and which were no longer required.

While higher Covid sickness rates were observed in the first months of 2022, the after-effects of the global lockdown made their mark in subsequent months through delays within supply chains. These supply difficulties intensified again with the start of the Ukraine war. Not only did suppliers experience volatility, but incoming orders also suffered from this uncertainty. The focus was on increasing profitability to a sustainable level through improved productivity, quality and increased cost flexibility

RUAG Aerostructures Oberpfaffenhofen and Hungary

The Oberpfaffenhofen (DE) and Eger (HU) sites, with around 750 and 250 employees respectively, work primarily for the customer Airbus and produce various sections (assemblies) for the A320 families. In 2022, production rates increased from initially around 35 to a good 50 aircraft units per month. During the year, the two sites focused on stabilising production, expanding production capacities and optimising production processes. In addition, significant productivity improvements were made at both sites, simultaneously improving quality. Investments were also made in two automatic riveting machine at the Oberpfaffenhofen site and in a new logistics centre in Eger. Both the Oberpfaffenhofen and Eger sites continue to be managed by Clemens Friedl.

RUAG Aerostructures Switzerland

The Emmen (CH) site, with its 220 employees, also focused on increasing profitability and securing internal and external supply chains in the 2022 operating year. The areas of machining and logistics at the Emmen site, which had been outsourced to external partners, were integrated back into the internal process. Business with the main customers SAAB (payload suspensions and drop tanks for Gripen fighter aircraft), Boeing (trailing edge flaps (TEF) for F/A-18) and Pilatus (aerostructure parts for PC-12 and PC-21) performed well. The Emmen site is researching and developing the “Wing of Tomorrow” for Airbus, and was able to deliver the first prototypes to the customer during the year. In organisational terms, RUAG Aerostructures Emmen has been headed up since mid-September by Simon Hächler, who took over from Paul Horstink. The latter has moved to the Space segment, where he now heads up the Launchers division.

Outlook

In Aerostructures, we expect production rates to continue to increase with the main customer Airbus. An increase of around 10% is expected for the coming year. At the Emmen site, positive performance is expected thanks to newly negotiated contracts. In line with the owner’s implementation plan, the entire RUAG Aerostructures business area is to be divested by the end of 2023 at the latest.

RUAG International’s Space segment looks back over a mixed year in 2022. The business unit saw sales rise 11.6% from CHF 319 million to CHF 356 million. However, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell from CHF 14 million to CHF –5 million. Additional costs for the capacity expansion in the Launchers division and lower margins in the Satellite business led to the lowerthan-expected result. As in the previous year, new orders from large commercial space providers – such as Amazon – led to a robust order intake at Beyond Gravity as well as a considerable increase of CHF 69 million in the order backlog (CHF 744 million), allowing us to look to the future with confidence.