Aerospace Composites Maker Takes Wing in Blue Ridge
Published Mar 23, 2009
The first contract VX Aerospace Corp. landed was seven figures.
Company President Ray Jones expects business in 2009 to hit eight figures. And he sees his workforce growing from 10 to 1,000.
“We want to be a big company,” Jones says.
VX makes composite replacement parts for military and some commercial aircraft, and its decision to land in the Morganton-Lenoir area is a boon for a region hit hard by closings of furniture and textile plants.
Likewise, the workforce those plants left behind is a boon for VX.
“The skills that we need are the same skills in the companies that left,” Jones says. “The retraining period is a couple of weeks. The workforce is here.”
Working with advanced composites such as carbon fiber, resins and polymers is not unlike working with cloth. Mold making and finishing have their analogues in the furniture industry.
“These skills we have available here translate well into several kinds of manufacturing,” says Wayne Harris, director of the Burke Partnership for Economic Development. “This is an extremely important development for our region.”
Burke and Caldwell counties share ownership and management of the Foothills Regional Airport, and VX will be the first company in an adjacent 800-acre industrial park.
Construction of a $2.2 million, 45,000-square foot plant is expected to begin in March or April 2009, Jones said. VX will keep its current facility on U.S. Highway 70 in Morganton – early investments included $1.5 million to meet the AS9100 certification required to do military aerospace work. Ovens to cure the materials cost $250,000 to $300,000 each, and VX created a clean room in a building that used to manufacture swimming suits, Jones says.
In 2009, VX plans to add two or three employees each month. All new hires must first pass the Work Keys program through Western Piedmont Community College and an in-house, three-week training program on composite skills engineering.
“Using composite material, we can supply the military with better stronger, stiffer and, in many cases, cheaper components, and can save money on maintenance side,” Jones says.
“We are doing something that is really, really important. It should be a breakout year for us.”
Story by Pamela Coyle
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