“The new composites design engineering center in Alabama will enable our global company to expand the high level of design/development engineering support we provide to customers,” said Jeff Barger, vice president and general manager of the GKN Aerospace Advanced Composite Structures (ACS) facility. “In addition, this project will significantly increase the number of highly skilled engineering personnel based at the growing facility in Tallassee.”
The engineering design center is now housed in a temporary location at the Elmore County plant, which concentrates on composite aerostructures for industry partners such as Bell Helicopter, HondaJet, and Airbus. Initial recruiting has begun for the 30 new personnel to be employed at the center.
In the Farnborough announcement, GKN Aerospace said the Alabama center will extend its global engineering strength and provide additional expertise in designing and building major composite structures. It will expand the Alabama facility’s established design-for-manufacturing operation that works with industry partners to increase reliability and to lower manufacturing costs.
The GKN Aerospace ACS facility, located about 35 miles from Montgomery, Alabama has been in operation since 1985 and employs more than 1,000 people. It boasts 380,000 ft2/35,303 m2 of manufacturing space, after a 120,000 ft2/11,148 m2 expansion announced in 2005. The engineering design center is expected to be operating in its new home by early next year.