The global boom in aerospace is playing out locally as numerous Connecticut companies are expanding and hiring to keep up with rising demand for airplane parts and components.
In what is likely a sampling of activity in the state, the Whitcraft Group in Eastford has expanded through acquisitions, Ensign-Bickford Industries Inc. in Simsbury and Spartan Aerospace LLC in Manchester are expanding and Connecticut Coining Inc. in Bethel, Jonal Laboratories Inc. in Meriden, New England Airfoil Products Inc. in Farmington and Precision Sensors Inc. in Milford have been hiring.
“It’s the best time in 60 years to be in the aerospace business,” said Ken Keegan, executive vice president at Jonal Laboratories, a manufacturer of molded rubber, metal-bonded and composite materials. “And that doesn’t include drones and space.”
Jonal has doubled its workforce to 125 in the past 18 months, adding chemists, engineers and others, he said. It’s established a second shift and is adding 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of floor space with the purchase of another site in Meriden.
Marlene Gaberel, sales and customer representative at Connecticut Coining, said the company has hired four workers recently, bringing the staff to 53. The manufacturer of deep-drawn metal parts used for aerospace, medical equipment, defense and high-voltage tubes, has expanded three times in the past decade, she said.
Spartan Aerospace, a manufacturer of sheet metal fabrications, machined products and welded assemblies, has been approved for a 20,000-square-foot expansion plan, said Gary Anderson, the town’s director of planning and economic development.
“We’re seeing a lot of activity in aerospace, but manufacturing in general,” he said.
Clive Cunliffe, president of Pietro Rosa Group in North America, the parent company of New England Airfoil Products, a manufacturer of gas turbine products, said optimism about the industry’s outlook was evident at last month’s Paris Air Show, an industry gathering. He said it was “one of the most buoyant.”
New England Airfoil Products is benefiting not only from rising customer demand and higher military spending, but also gains business with legislation requiring updated gas turbine technology, Cunliffe said.
The company has grown from 15 employees three and a half years ago to 157 now. More than 200 are expected to be at New England Airfoil Products toward the end of the year, he said.
Simsbury officials say Ensign-Bickford, which makes a range of equipment such as detonation parts for the defense industry and flight components for the aerospace industry, will be making a $10 million investment over the next five to 10 years to create a “center of excellence” for electronic design and manufacturing. It was founded in the town in 1836.
In May, Whitcraft, a manufacturer of nickel and titanium alloy parts, announced the acquisition of the Scarborough, Maine, and Tempe, Ariz., operations of LAI International, which makes aircraft engine components. In February, Whitcraft announced the acquisition of Form 3D Solutions in Dover, N.H., an additive manufacturing and engineering company specializing in producing precision titanium and nickel alloy parts using three-dimensional printing.
Rob Reis, vice president of sales at Precision Sensors, said its workforce, now at about 100, has been expanding by 10 percent to 12 percent a year for the past few years. The company moved into a new plant a year ago, tripling capacity, he said.
The company, which makes sensors in engines, hydraulic systems and even toilets, is benefiting from more business with Europe, Reis said.
“All the work we did four years ago is coming home to roost now,” he said.
Passenger travel, particularly in Asia, is boosting demand for airlines and the manufacture of countless parts made by small companies in the industry’s supply chain. Connecticut, with a history in aviation and aerospace that dates to the beginnings of flight, is reaping the benefits.
Airbus, the France-based aerospace manufacturer, said in a presentation last month that airline traffic is expected to double in the next 15 years. Industrywide, 37,400 aircraft will be required in the next 20 years, it said.
Connecticut, which has a long history in aerospace manufacturing, is “lucky in that regard,” Reis said.
The state “hasn’t been very friendly to us over the years,” he said, citing higher taxes than in other states. He said he’s gotten offers from other states that would welcome an advanced manufacturer.
“You’ve got to be careful not to overtax,” Reis said.
Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com