Safran Landing Systems celebrates a decade of aviation brake activities in Sendayan alongside the Chief Ruler of Negeri Sembilan

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This year, Safran Landing Systems, the world leader in landing systems, celebrates the tenth anniversary of its Sendayan site in Malaysia. The site manufactures and refurbishes high-performance carbon brakes. A key milestone for this state-of-the-art plant, which partners over a hundred airlines in the Asia-Pacific region, celebrated with the attendance of Malaysian authorities and customers.

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In 2013, with support from MIDA (Malaysian Investment Development Authority), Safran Landing Systems started the construction of a carbon brake disk manufacturing and refurbishment plant in Sendayan. The site features three main workshops dedicated to the production of carbon pre-forms, the thermal treatment ovens and machining. It was inaugurated two years later, on January 15, 2015.

A decade celebrated with local authorities

A decade of strategic activities supporting Asian airlines, which site personnel celebrated with pride on Thursday November 23, in the presence of the Supreme Ruler of Negeri Sembilan, Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir and several other high-ranking officials:

His eldest son, Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Besar Seri Menanti Tunku Ali Redhauddin Ibni Tuanku Muhriz,
The Chief Minister of the state of Negeri Sembilan, Dato' Seri Haji Aminuddin Bin Harun Aminuddin, YAB Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan,
The French ambassador to Malaysia, Axel Cruau,
The President of the MIDA, Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr. Sulaiman Mahbob,
François Bastin, CEO of Safran Landing Systems,
Jean-Michel Hillion, EVP, Wheels & Brakes Division, Safran Landing Systems.

This long-awaited event brought people together and was the perfect opportunity to review the achievements of the site, to recognize the globally acclaimed expertise of its employees, or to discuss their current challenges and those ahead.

A key site for Safran activities in the Asia-Pacific region

With Villeurbanne (Rhône - France) and Walton (Kentucky - USA), Sendayan is Safran Landing Systems' third carbon brake disk production site. A global network that to date enables the leading provider of landing systems to equip over 12,000 airliners and 1,600 military aircraft with carbon brakes.

Each year, the Sendayan plant produces around 80,000 new carbon brake disks and refurbishes over 15,000 heat sinks* for over a hundred airlines mainly based in Asia. Its activity makes Sendayan a strategic partner for operators in the region in a backdrop of global growth in air traffic.

A benchmark for decarbonization

The Sendayan site is a benchmark for low-carbon initiatives, having already reduced its CO₂ emissions by 27% since 2018**. Significant progress, notably through investment projects such as:

The installation of solar shades on the car park (extended to cover the factory roof next year).
The reuse of effluent gases released during the carbon disk production process to generate 20% of the electricity consumed by the site.
The widespread use of variable frequency drives, which can vary the speed of electric motors of machines to their actual needs.

This system will soon be reinforced with the imminent deployment of a Power Management System (PMS) to control and optimize site utility consumption (electricity, gas, water). The plant can also count on the low-carbon culture of its personnel, for whom "energy wastage" is a sensitive issue, and who regularly take part in local efforts to protect the environment.

Malaysia and Safran have a strong partnership for years and share common ambition for a greener industry. Combined with the talent and the commitment of our teams, and with the continued support of the Malaysian government for access to competitive low carbon electricity, I am confident that Sendayan will mark the next decades by bolstering its activities in an even more hashtag#sustainable way to support the rapid growth in Asian-Pacific air traffic.

François Bastin, CEO of Safran Landing Systems

The differentiating benefits of the carbon brake

You probably didn't know but Safran Landing Systems invented the first carbon brake, introduced into service in 1985 on Airbus A310 aircraft!

The properties of carbon are very interesting for operators, both in terms of performance and endurance, and even respect for the environment. And not without reason, as the lifetime of a carbon brake is two to three times greater than that of a steel brake. The material is lighter and reduces the laden weight of the aircraft, lowering its fuel consumption in flight and subsequently its CO₂ emissions. In terms of the ratio, the quantity of CO₂ that is not released during flight thanks to the light weight of our carbon brakes is ten times more than the quantity generated during the brake manufacture process. If we look at the scale of a whole fleet, this represents several hundred tonnes of CO₂ not released into the atmosphere every year.

* A heat sink is made up of a stack of brake discs

**The commitment made by Safran is to reduce the carbon emissions of its activities by around 50% by 2030 compared to 2018.