Aerospace Components Manufacturer Begins Construction in Alabama

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). GKN Aerospace, Incorporated (Tallahassee, Alabama), a division of GKN plc (Redditch, England), is currently investing $20 million to expand its 275,000 square-foot plant in Tallahassee, Alabama.

GKN’s Alabama facility supplies both civil and military markets by providing fixed wing and rotor aircraft composite structures and assemblies. Expanding the site will provide additional assembly operations for high-performance composite structures. GKN Aerospace was recently selected by General Electric Company to develop & manufacture the front fan containment case for the new GEnx Engine, which will power the new Boeing 787 airliner. This will be the first fan containment case for a commercial aircraft program to be manufactured entirely from composite materials.

Jesco, Incorporated (Montgomery, Alabama) is the general contractor overseeing the construction of the 120,000 square-foot expansion. Groundbreaking occurred in the fall of 2005, and the project is expected to be complete in late 2006 or early 2007. The expansion will add 250 jobs to the 500 that already exist.

GKN Aerospace, Incorporated (formerly Dow-United Technologies) was purchased by GKN of the United Kingdom in December 1998. The plant was originally called Tallahassee Sikorsky Composites Manufacturing Facility and began construction in the fall of 1984, and commenced production in September of 1985. The facility was expanded from its original 140,000 square feet to approximately 260,000 square feet in 1990, after the formation of the joint venture between Dow Chemical Company and United Technologies, Incorporated. GKN provides components for Sikorsky’s Blackhawk Helicopter, Airbus’ A330/340 & A380 jetliners, the F/A-22 Raptor for Lockheed Martin, in addition to the new GEnx engine for GE.

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