US composites manufacturer Hexcel (Stamford, Connecticut; www.hexcel.com) has announced plans to build a new EUR 20m plant at Casablanca / Morocco to support growing demand for engineered core materials from the aeronautics industry. The new capacity is due to go on stream in 2017 at the MidParc Free Trade Zone (FTZ) industrial park, in close proximity to customers such as Safran, Airbus, the Boeing-Safran joint venture Matis and Bombardier.

Hexcel CEO Nick Stanage said the new facility will position the company to win new business in commercial aerostructure applications. In the new Moroccan centre of excellence, he said the company hopes to partner more closely with its key customer base in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Hexcel already produces the honeycombed materials marketed under its “HexWeb” trademark at existing US facilities in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Washington state, and at its European centre of competence in Welkenraedt / Belgium.