April 17, 2007

Expanded Sabreliner Manufacturing Operation Open for Business

Sabreliner Corp. continues expansion of its dedicated aviation manufacturing operation south of St. Louis in St. Mary, Mo., doubling its size and populating it with new Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) equipment. As additional CNC equipment is being installed, another expansion of the building – to house a processing center – is nearing completion.

Many parts fabricated at St. Mary are being used in aircraft repairs performed at both of Sabreliner’s nearby facilities in Perryville and Ste. Genevieve. Other parts are produced under contract with Original Equipment Manufacturers and shipped direct to them for use in new aircraft production or in aircraft maintenance and repair.

“We made the decision to grow Sabreliner’s manufacturing capabilities and capacity, and our St. Mary operation was the perfect place to do that, midway between our Ste. Genevieve and Perryville facilities,” said D. J. “Jim” Meier, vice president, government services. “Ste. Genevieve is where we are repairing and overhauling components for the Air Force KC-135 and Navy E-6B, and we’ve already begun manufacturing more than 150 components for helicopters as part our on-going relationship with Sikorsky’s Keystone Helicopter subsidiary.” Perryville is where much of the company’s new rotary-wing work is being performed.

New equipment installed in the expanded St. Mary operation includes a 14-foot bed three-axis gantry mill, two water jet cutters and a press brake, along with two other pieces of important CNC equipment – a smaller three-axis mill and a lathe, both relocated from Perryville. A 50-foot bed CNC mill is expected to be installed by the end of the year.

Sabreliner first occupied the facility in June of 1997, and has undertaken several smaller expansions since then. The recently completed work doubled the size of the fully environmentally controlled space, and represents a quadrupling of the square footage in the 10 years the company has operated it. The processing center, which will be used for etch processing and dye penetrate for crack and defect detection and applying Alodine to parts, is expected to be fully operational next month.

“We’ve been operating a single shift there, and have just recently added a small second shift,” said David Bauman, vice president, Southeast Missouri operations. The company conducts state-certified sheet metal training classes for potential employees, and as one of the premier workplaces in the area maintains a waiting list of trained technicians. “We have ample workers available in the area and are fully prepared to add employees on the second shift. We’d like nothing more than to make St. Mary an around-the-clock operation.

“With the additional equipment installed and the new processing center in operation, we will have a manufacturing center of excellence for aircraft parts,” he said. “All processing will take place at one facility -- planning, programming, cutting, stamping, chemical processing, heat treating, painting and inspection. The center can process aluminum, steel, magnesium, titanium and composites,” Bauman said.