Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, held a ground breaking ceremony to mark the construction of a manufacturing and research building in Sheffield on Tuesday.

The new 6,200 square metre facility, which is the company’s first European manufacturing plant, is being built at a site on the Sheffield Business Park, the company said.

Due open in late 2018, the facility will manufacture actuation system components for Boeing’s Next-Generation 737, 737 MAX and 777 aeroplanes.

Boeing Sheffield will be a part of Boeing Fabrication, the company’s in-house parts-manufacturing operation. When it opens, Boeing Sheffield will produce as many as 8,000 components per month that will be shipped to Boeing Portland, to be assembled into actuation systems