Moore County NC is home to several defense-related suppliers & manufacturers.
BRS Aerospace (Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc.), a manufacturer of whole-aircraft emergency parachute systems, military cargo and personnel parachutes, and reflective safety products, announced that it has been awarded an additional $8 million in new orders by the US Army to manufacture "low velocity" and “high velocity” cargo parachutes. This is a more than 50% increase to the current contract production levels.
“We have been producing both low velocity and high velocity parachutes for the past several months”, said Dave Blanchard, BRS Aerospace Chief Operating Officer. “Such a sizeable increase to the delivery rate is indicative of the trust and confidence the Army has in our quality and throughput abilities.”
BRS Aerospace of South St. Paul, MN has 3 divisions, one of which is BRS Defense in Pinebluff, Moore County, North Carolina. This facility designs and manufactures various parachute systems, protective gear and other products for the U.S. military and is now ramping up production to accommodate the increased orders for the cargo parachutes. Some production will also occur at the South St. Paul corporate headquarters facility. BRS says this significant contract increase will require the addition of 134 new employees.
Thriving in Moore County since 2007, BRS Defense chose the Pinebluff location because of its advantageous proximity only 35 minutes from Fort Bragg. “Establishing our facility in Pinebluff, in particular, puts us close to Fort Bragg so that we can take advantage of more textile fabrication opportunities with the military”, said Norman Girdwood, General Manager of the Pinebluff facility.
The availability of a skilled workforce was another factor in BRS’s decision to locate in Moore County. "There is a labor pool here we can draw from," Girdwood said. "Our products require skilled precision. We strive for quality output, not quantity, because most of our products have a safety-critical nature to them, and there are a substantial number of experienced former textile workers available in this area.”
In addition, accessibility to raw materials and proximity to cutting-edge textile research were important considerations to BRS. “This location gives us good proximity to raw materials suppliers in Virginia and North Carolina”, explained Gary Moore, BRS Aerospace Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We are also close to a lot of the textile science research being done in the Research Triangle, and it will be nice to tap into that at some point.”
When first beginning operations in Moore County, BRS Defense expected to start with around 15 employees and grow to 45 employees within 3 years. But in less than 2-and-a-half years, its workforce has more than doubled to 70 employees.
“BRS Defense is a great success story for Moore County”, said Ray Ogden, Executive Director of the Moore County (NC) Partners in Progress economic development organization. “The company has continued to grow steadily in terms of both workforce and floor area, despite the economic recession, demonstrating Moore County’s advantages of being close to a military base as well as industry resources and having a readily-available skilled workforce.”
“BRS has found that the benefits of being in Moore County are a major part of its formula for success”, Ogden added.
BRS Aerospace continues to expand and diversify its product and customer mix to take advantage of evolving opportunities in the marketplace, particularly with the military. Pursuing and winning military contracts are just one facet of BRS’s diversification strategy.
“We anticipate this latest boost in our defense business will significantly and positively affect the growth of BRS Aerospace”, said Larry E. Williams, BRS Aerospace Chief Executive Officer. “BRS is an industry leader in parachute technology and we are especially proud to be supporting our troops in this unique way."
For more information about BRS Defense and parent company BRS Aerospace, visit www.brsaerospace.com.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
