Aerospace industry to have major impact on northeast Indiana economy

“From the exhibition floor of the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) to business meetings across London, leaders in the aviation and aerospace industries will soon be hearing all about Indiana,” Governor Mike Pence said in a statement on Indiana’s mission to the United Kingdom, which concluded July 16.

“They will be listening to the story of a state that works, where our stellar workforce and business climate have made Indiana one of the best places in the world to grow a business. Our goal with this mission is to propel these businesses to Indiana, bringing more jobs and opportunity for all Hoosiers.”

The big names of aerospace make the annual air show, and in addition to attending the inauguration of an Indiana booth there, the governor planned to meet with representatives of companies including BAE Systems, Raytheon Co., Alcoa, GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce Corp.

BAE and Raytheon have major operations in Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne-based Riverside Manufacturing, which was part of the business delegation accompanying the governor, could not be reached for comment the day before the mission started.

BAE employs more than 1,100 in Fort Wayne and has a 334,000-square-foot facility under construction at the northwest corner of Airport Expressway and Ardmore Avenue near Fort Wayne International Airport.

BAE closed on a 10-year lease in March with the Indianapolis office of Scannell Properties to develop the $46-million project, which the company expects to see completed by mid-2015. The facility will be built on 41 acres at 4250 Airport Expressway, which the company said was enough acreage to accommodate future growth.

The plant will make engine controls, flight controls, flight deck systems, cabin systems, electrical distribution and harness assemblies. It also will provide after-market maintenance, repair and overhaul support.

Its customer list includes GE Aviation, Boeing, Parker Aerospace, Bombardier Aerospace, Embraer and all major airlines.

Jeff Benzing, a spokesman for BAE’s Fort Wayne operations, said it supplies most of the engine controls for GE Aviation engines. Roughly 10 percent of the plant’s business is defense related and the rest is commercial.

In his statement, Pence said the jobs mission would build on favorable things happening with the aerospace industry in Indiana, including the BAE facility’s construction.

Other important steps taken in recent years to develop the defense and aerospace industries in northeast Indiana include the formation of the Indiana Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), Northeast Indiana Defense Industry Association (NIDIA) and the Lilly Endowment-funded Talent Initiative to help refill the area’s engineering talent pipeline.

BAE has supported all of these efforts and is a member of NIDIA, an organization Benzing said is important for general advocacy and to develop the industry’s potential in the area because “it allows the defense industry in northeast Indiana to act as one.”

Impex International, which provides a sourcing and warehousing service for mechanical hardware used by the automotive, defense and aerospace industries, also is a member of NIDIA.

“Working together as a member of this group will give us a competitive advantage. Rather than somebody buying from someone outside, why not generate employment in the state of Indiana,” said Nagin Shah, founder and president of the business on Innovation Boulevard in Fort Wayne. “We have a tremendous workforce in the state of Indiana. We have some prime (defense) contractors already established and have aerospace as an industry that could be championed by the governor,” he said. “I think it’s a worthy effort the state is making and commend all that effort and I’m hoping that would generate more employment.”

F.G. “Gil” Perry, a PTAC counselor, said a decision to make the center part of the Indiana Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship last month indicated the state’s commitment to developing the defense and aerospace industries.

In seeking to grow Indiana’s defense industry, the state charted a course against some headwinds in the form of spending cuts required by sequestration. In a budget released this February, the Pentagon proposed $75 billion in defense spending cuts over the next two years to comply with spending caps required by the Budget Control Act.

“Due to sequestration, the U.S. has been spending less,” Perry said. “We see that locally, but there’s been a lot of effort to try” foreign military sales to U.S. allies, he said.

Ryan Metzing, who was part of the delegation as director of the Indiana Aerospace and Defense Council, said it has estimated the industries employ between 40,000 and 50,000 in the state.

“The jobs are typically fairly well compensated and that extends for manufacturing careers in this sector as well,” Metzing said. “The last time we did a study on this the average total wage in manufacturing throughout the state was about $20,000 per year higher in aerospace and defense manufacturing, compared with general manufacturing. For a state that is interested in putting people to work, these are great jobs to have available.”

The jobs mission provides an important opportunity to attract new employers to Indiana, he said, and for the companies in the delegation attending the air show, it also may present an opportunity to develop some business there.