Precision component specialist Sargent Aerospace & Defense is more than doubling the size of its footprint at its headquarters in Tucson, Arizona, as it expects a surge in production demand from original equipment manufacturers over the few next years.
The 6,500m² (70,000ft²) facility is being built next to the existing 60,000ft² plant and is due to be opened in September. It is part of a two-year investment programme costing around $18-20 million, which started in 2010 to grow the company's manufacturing and aftermarket businesses for components such as actuators, valves, bearings and fasteners.
The Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and A320neo, Sikorsky CH-53 and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are the central programmes from which Rich McManus, vice-president of OEM products, expects "long-term revenue streams" in future.
In the commercial arena, he expects demand from Airbus and Boeing to increase sharply between 2011 and 2013. McManus said that when the airframers' production lines surged the last time in 2006-07, it caught out the suppliers and lead times for their products went up to 70 weeks. For the next time, he wants to prepared and to be able to offer lead times "significantly less than 50 weeks".
The expansion in Tucson also serves to consolidate some of Sargent's manufacturing sites. Landing gear pin production will be moved to Arizona and the current facility in Ontario, California, will be closed.
A "good 30%" of the new plant will be used for the development and fabrication of new products, said McManus. Extending its bearing offerings will be central to the technology effort, but the company also wants to develop its product line in other areas.
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Source: Flight Daily News
