Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Timco Aerosystems plant in Wallburg is up and running

WALLBURG | Just more than a year since it was announced that Timco Aerosystems would move into the former Tyco Electronics plant on Gumtree Road in Wallburg, 150 employees are now making airplane seats on four production lines in the 120,000-square-foot building.

"We've hired approximately 150 people to date and hope to hire another 50 more by year's end," said Kip Blakely, vice president of industry and government relations for Greensboro-based Timco Aviation Services, one of the world's largest independent providers of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services and parent company of Timco Aerosystems, which makes airplane seating and other interiors such as galleys and lavatories.

He said Timco Aerosystems anticipates adding an additional 100 employees in Wallburg in 2012.

The airplane seat production began at Timco's operations center near Piedmont Triad International airport earlier this year as the former Tyco building was being renovated and production equipment was installed but has now been totally relocated to Wallburg, so Davidson County workers have a shorter work commute.

"We had a prototype line over there until we got this facility rehabilitated," Blakely said during a tour of the expansive facility, where some upfitting continues. "We did a lot of things environmentally to make it a greener facility."

The Wallburg facility was needed to meet demand for Timco's patented FeatherWeight line of seating, which is 20 to 25 percent lighter than industry standards, thus increasing fuel efficiency, Blakely said. Timco acquired Brice Seating in California in 2002 but that facility couldn't be expanded further so the company began looking at other locations to ramp up production.

"We should more than double our capacity with these new lines," Blakely said of the FeatherWeight seating systems. "That's what's driving our success. We have a couple of products that really hit the sweet spot."

The company makes seating for all aircraft types but currently the coach class seats for 737s and business class seats for 787s are the most in demand. Blakely noted international carriers typically have three classes of seating, such as business class, in addition to first class and coach.

"Over 80 percent of our product produced here will go outside the United States," Blakely said, noting some of the current production is for Royal Air Morac based in Casablanca, Morocco. "I get a kick out of the fact that we're making airline furniture and shipping it all over the world."

To be eligible for a variety of state and local incentives, Timco has agreed to create 500 jobs within seven years at the plant. In addition to assemblers, supervisors and inspectors, the plant has engineers, numbering about 15 to 20 now, supply-chain staffers and administrative personnel.

"When we look at the marketplace and how rapidly we're growing, that shouldn't be difficult at all," Blakely said of meeting job creation criteria.

Noting that the Timco plant is on 69 acres of land, Blakely said there's space to expand the plant or develop a business park, which might include some of Timco's suppliers.

While four production lines are in place in existing space, work is under way to add a prototype design center and a test lab within the building where new products lines can be tested to meet safety guidelines, said Chad Schrempp, plant manager in Wallburg.

"That's going to save us months in the development cycle," Schrempp said, noting that these functions have had to previously be sourced outside the company. "It's part of the evolution of our company."

"We've hired approximately 150 people to date and hope to hire another 50 more by year's end," said Kip Blakely, vice president of industry and government relations for Greensboro-based Timco Aviation Services, one of the world's largest independent providers of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services and parent company of Timco Aerosystems, which makes airplane seating and other interiors such as galleys and lavatories.

He said Timco Aerosystems anticipates adding an additional 100 employees in Wallburg in 2012.

The airplane seat production began at Timco's operations center near Piedmont Triad International airport earlier this year as the former Tyco building was being renovated and production equipment was installed but has now been totally relocated to Wallburg, so Davidson County workers have a shorter work commute.

"We had a prototype line over there until we got this facility rehabilitated," Blakely said during a tour of the expansive facility, where some upfitting continues. "We did a lot of things environmentally to make it a greener facility."

The Wallburg facility was needed to meet demand for Timco's patented FeatherWeight line of seating, which is 20 to 25 percent lighter than industry standards, thus increasing fuel efficiency, Blakely said. Timco acquired Brice Seating in California in 2002 but that facility couldn't be expanded further so the company began looking at other locations to ramp up production.

"We should more than double our capacity with these new lines," Blakely said of the FeatherWeight seating systems. "That's what's driving our success. We have a couple of products that really hit the sweet spot."

The company makes seating for all aircraft types but currently the coach class seats for 737s and business class seats for 787s are the most in demand. Blakely noted international carriers typically have three classes of seating, such as business class, in addition to first class and coach.

"Over 80 percent of our product produced here will go outside the United States," Blakely said, noting some of the current production is for Royal Air Morac based in Casablanca, Morocco. "I get a kick out of the fact that we're making airline furniture and shipping it all over the world."

To be eligible for a variety of state and local incentives, Timco has agreed to create 500 jobs within seven years at the plant. In addition to assemblers, supervisors and inspectors, the plant has engineers, numbering about 15 to 20 now, supply-chain staffers and administrative personnel.

"When we look at the marketplace and how rapidly we're growing, that shouldn't be difficult at all," Blakely said of meeting job creation criteria.

Noting that the Timco plant is on 69 acres of land, Blakely said there's space to expand the plant or develop a business park, which might include some of Timco's suppliers.

While four production lines are in place in existing space, work is under way to add a prototype design center and a test lab within the building where new products lines can be tested to meet safety guidelines, said Chad Schrempp, plant manager in Wallburg.

"That's going to save us months in the development cycle," Schrempp said, noting that these functions have had to previously be sourced outside the company. "It's part of the evolution of our company."

Schrempp said a plastics and soft goods sub-assembly operation that would make folding tray tables and arm rests as well as a cut-and-sew operation to make seat covers for the upholstered seating are also being discussed.

"It would make it a more vertically integrated operation, with a quicker turnaround time," he added.

Schrempp said he has been very impressed with the quality of employees Timco has been able to attract to the newly refurbished plant, many of whom are Davidson County residents. He said 60 to 70 percent of the newly hired had been laid off from nearby plants, including the Dell computer plant.

"It's everything we thought it would be," Schrempp said, noting that manufacturing skills, including those in furniture, have served the employees well. "We've got a lot of good people with talent. We're already producing as many seats as our California facility."

Schrempp noted that each production line has 12 stations with computerized instructions at each station to guide workers in assembling about 1,000 parts in a row of three coach seats. He said the company is working with Davidson County Community College on training programs.

One of the earlier hires for the Timco plant, Lisa Essick of Davidson County, said she's happy to cut her commute back from Greensboro to Wallburg and especially pleased to be back in a manufacturing job. She worked at Josten's printing company in Winston-Salem for 23 years, then two years at the Dell plant before it closed. She went back to school for medical records administration but she really wanted to return to a manufacturing setting.

"That was my goal," Essick said. "It's really what I like to do."

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