AEROSPACE COMPANY TO HIRE 200 IN HOUSTON
March 1, 2002
Originally published in The Telegraph

Aircraft parts maker planning to open Warner Robins plant.

WARNER ROBINS — An Atlanta aerospace company announced plans Thursday to open an aircraft parts manufacturing plant here and hire 200 people within six months to a year.

The president of Georgia Aerospace Manufacturing said the company may eventually expand to several locations in Middle Georgia and employ about 1,000 people.

Company President and CEO Thomas Mensah told Houston County leaders that he hopes to buy a 12-year-old, 50,000-square-foot empty building on Osigian Boulevard in the next two months and begin renovations.

The plant would make composite parts for the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, he said. The F-22 is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. in Marietta, and the F-35 is being developed by that company.

Some work at the facility, Mensah said, would be classified and require tight security.

Lockheed Martin was selected last October by the Defense Department for the $200 billion F-35 contract, which could lead to manufacturing 3,000 of the supersonic fighter jets.

A spokesman for Lockheed Martin said Georgia Aerospace Manufacturing is not a listed contractor for the F-22 or F-35 projects but may be doing the work for one of Lockheed Martin's subcontractors.

Mensah said his company was founded in 1992 and worked with Lockheed Martin on development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

He said the firm chose Warner Robins because Robins Air Force Base and surrounding defense contractors have created a pool of workers who already know about aircraft parts.

"We want to do the bulk of the work here," he said. "You don't have time to train somebody for a year."

He announced the company's plans during a monthly meeting of the Houston County Development Authority.

The authority then approved a resolution agreeing to issue $4 million in industrial revenue bonds for. Georgia Aerospace Manufacturing to buy and renovate the building and purchase equipment.

The deal is subject to the company securing financing and meeting various requirements for the bond issue, according to county officials.

Draper Watson, chairman of the development authority, said the group has been dealing with Mensah for about 30 days, which is short notice for a project of this magnitude.

Watson said he's glad a buyer has been found for the Osigian Boulevard building, which has been vacant since last July when Lithonia Lighting moved its operations to Cochran. I t was built in 1990 as a speculative building in the authority's Advanced Technology Park. It is owned jointly by the city of Warner Robins, the county development authority and the Warner Robins Area Chamber of Commerce.

"We didn't think we'd ever get it for industrial use again," Watson said.

And the county may be able to sell Mensah more buildings down the road.

Mensah said his company will probably expand in coming years, and the 50,000-square-foot Osigian building will be too small.
He said the group could buy the county's 150,000-square-foot speculative building in Perry or some other Middle Georgia facility.
Mensah, a native of Ghana, Africa, has seven U.S. and international patents for fiber optics materials used for missiles and other military hardware. He said the company could expand in Middle Georgia to build missiles or other military equipment.
He said the Georgia Aerospace Manufacturing plant is likely to attract other companies that build composite materials for aircraft.

"Middle Georgia is going to be the center for the next generation of composites," Mensah said.

Meanwhile, many Houston leaders left the development authority meeting beaming about the possibility of new jobs.

County leaders just learned in November that airplane parts maker Vought Aircraft Industries will close its Perry plant later this year and move or eliminate 365 jobs.

Warner Robins chamber President Michele Callahari said the organization is thrilled about the announcement.

“We're particularly excited about the addition of jobs," she said. "It seems like it’s a perfect fit."

For more information contact Pat Topping with Macon Economic Development Commission

478-621-2030
P.O. Box 169
Macon, Georgia 31202