A Harbinger of things to come

The Airbus supply chain stretches to almost every corner of the globe. In one remote but highly populated corner of China critical parts for the manufacturer’s latest jet, the A350, are rolling off a sophisticated production line to begin a long journey to Europe.

Harbin seems an odd place to have a high technology plant specializing in producing complex composite parts for aerospace giant Airbus Industrie in Europe.

Tucked into the far northeast corner of China, the temperature here hits -30C in winter and among its 10.5 million inhabitants you’ll find only around 400 Westerners. A few hundred kilometres to the south is North Korea’s border. A similar distance north and you enter Russia. Yet it is where you will find a little piece of Toulouse, a clone of the European aircraft manufacturers industrial ways, the Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Centre, or HMC.