Japanese analytical instrument and airplane component maker Shimadzu has held preliminary talks with Airbus after repeated delays in plane deliveries at Boeing.
Japan's defense budget cuts have hurt Shimadzu's aircraft equipment business, prompting it to go after orders for control systems at Boeing. But Shimadzu's president said on Friday that the company now needs to expand its client base.
While its shipments to Boeing are still small, an expected delay in the US plane maker's new 787 would not help matters, President Shigehiko Hattori said.
"Initial research costs are huge in the airplane business and returns don't come in until seven years later," he told reporters following a news conference about the company's mid-term plan. "Delays hurt."
Shimadzu officials including Hattori have met the head of Airbus's Japan unit, he said, without providing further details.
Airbus, which hopes to supply aircraft to Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, has said it aims to procure more parts from Japanese companies.
Shimadzu expects total sales to rise 13 percent in three years to JPY320 billion yen (USD$3.22 billion) in the year ending March 2011.
But aviation equipment sales would fall 17.7 percent to JPY24.7 billion in the same year, compared with its forecast for the year ending this month.
Analysts expect at least six months further delay for Boeing's new lightweight Dreamliner, due to last-minute design changes.
That could mean delivery in the second half of 2009, about 15 months behind the original schedule, which the US plane maker has already pushed back twice.
