Patents and jobs
by Elisabeth Arriero, The Enquirer-Journal, Dec. 4, 2009
In related news, South Piedmont Community College earned a $750,000 grant to train aerospace workers. See story.
MONROE ? Technology patented at a factory in Monroe may keep the city at the cutting edge of the aerospace industry and, company leaders say, create more jobs over time.
Cyril Bath makes machines that stretch metals until they become pliable; then the machine forms them into a desired shape. Those metals form the framework of commercial and private aircraft.
Recent changes in the aerospace industry will soon affect Cyril Bath?s role, leading to local job creation, said Mike Zimmer, the company?s president.
Although most existing aircraft use aluminum for materials, the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner will use mostly titanium. By 2020, the industry expects to double the number of aircraft produced while both replacing its aging fleet and increasing total aircraft numbers.
Zimmer said it has created a part-forming process that is "more cost-effective and efficient" than the method used to create the first few prototypes of the Dreamliner, which will take its first flight Dec. 22.
"We are lucky to have such talented employees here," he said.
And with the second production line of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to be in Charleston, S.C., Zimmer said the demand for aircraft parts will grow. To address that need, the company will create aircraft parts in addition to building machines for other companies, eventually creating more jobs in Monroe.
"It?s a plus for us," Zimmer said. "Usually we?ve been 75 percent machinery and 25 percent parts, but I think in the next few years we?ll be 50-50."
By diversifying their labor and offering exclusive part-forming technology to aerospace companies, Zimmer hopes to add 20 jobs to the existing 40 to 50 jobs at the plant over the next three years.
"In this economy, it?s good to have positive news about what?s going on in manufacturing," said Ron Mahle, the assistant director of economic development in Monroe.
It?s been a good year for Cyril Bath. While they usually ship out two large metal forming machines to companies a year, they?ve done six this year. Each machine takes 12 months to build.
This week, Cyril Bath will complete work on its largest machine ever. Weighing 2 million pounds and capable of 1,500 tons of force, it will help form fuselage skins for both Airbus and Boeing commercial aircraft.
"This is another example of how the products made here go throughout the world to service and provide the pieces of the airplane that we all fly on," Monroe Economic Development Director Chris Plat? said. The machine is valued between $6 million and $9 million.
The company will begin to disassemble the machine on Dec. 11 and 40 truckloads will ship out the parts. The Kansas company will likely have it in use by late January, Zimmer said.
