Omnisys, Brazilian subsidiary of Thales Group, has been qualified by the Under Water System division for local production of transducers at its Excellence Center in Sonars, opened in January 2016, in the city of São Bernardo do Campo (SP). The Brazilian branch, which received investments amounting to R$ 15 million, is the first company to build an industrial infrastructure capable of manufacturing this kind of product in Brazil. The final test will be carried out on December 12, at the pool of Instituto de Pesquisa da Marinha (IPQM), which is a fundamental partner in the prototype research and testing process, in Rio de Janeiro.
The process to make the center homologation feasible was comprised by five phases, including, among them, the search for materials and local suppliers to develop the transducer, forwarding of teams abroad for qualification and technology transfer, construction of machinery for the project, and creation of three Brazilian prototypes. Finally, validations were conducted with three other French prototypes, which attested the same pattern and quality required worldwide.
This process confirms the Omnisys qualification for production of transducers in the country, as well as for exportation to the group. In addition, it validates the industrial production capacity, thus enabling the complete production of Brazilian sonars.
Transducers manufactured in Brazil will be applied in the manufacture of sonars for surface ships, frigates or corvettes, and operate both in passive mode – requiring stimulation to produce an output signal –, and in active mode – returning information with the target distance and direction.
“The transducers’ qualification has also served to validate the whole investment made in the deployment of the production infrastructure at the Excellence Center of Sonars, and makes us ready for meeting our key objective, which is the fabrication and maintenance of sonars in Brazil, to equip ships of the Brazilian Navy and in Latin America. The competitiveness, efficiency and operational capability to be provided to Omnisys and Thales Group by this achievement represents a step forward of the global strategy for consolidation of Omnisys in Brazil and the growth of the group in Latin America”, states Luiz Henriques, CEO at Omnisys.
About IPQM – Sonar Group
About Omnisys
Omnisys is a Brazilian company, subsidiary of Thales group, which provides high technology solutions and has large experience in the civil, spatial and defense markets. Headquartered in the city of São Bernardo do Campo (SP), it has 200 employees developing technology in Brazil for the air traffic, air defense, missile electronics, electronic warfare, satellite payload segments, in addition to services. Since 2015, Omnisys also received investments above EUR 150 million from the Thales Group for development of products and businesses in Brazil.
About Thales
Thales is a world leader in the Aeronautics, Transportation, Defense and Security markets. Counting on 64,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of €14.9 billion in 2016. With more than 25,000 engineers and researchers, Thales provides unique capability for designing and implementing equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its excellent international presence enables the company to operate very close to its customers worldwide. www.thalesgroup.com