Airframe parts supplier LMI Aerospace’s recent acquisition of a related company will mean 100 new jobs and the second expansion of LMI’s local facility in less than a year.
LMI and the Savannah Economic Development Authority made the announcement Tuesday following a SEDA board vote to grant LMI a $125,000 cash incentive toward the expansion. The project will boost LMI’s presence at its Coleman Boulevard facility to 161,000 square feet and 155 employees.
“Our work force continues to grow, and we are pleased with not only the available plant space, but also the high quality of the workers who have joined us and the support of both the city of Savannah and the state of Georgia,” LMI CEO Ronald S. Saks said. “We consider ourselves fortunate that the aerospace industry continues to grow, and we intend to offer our Savannah products and services as a valued supplier to our customers.”
Missouri-base LMI opened its Savannah facility in 2003 and produces specialty airframe parts for riveting, machined parts and assemblies for Gulfstream as well as kits and assemblies for Boeing’s plants in Seattle, Wash. and Charleston, S.C.
In December, LMI completed its acquisition of Valent Aerostructures, which makes complex structural components, sub-assemblies and machined parts for Boeing, Gulfstream, Cessna and several defense contractors. Most of the work tied to LMI’s Savannah expansion will be for parts and structures previously produced by Valent.
SEDA courted Valent Aerostructures to Savannah prior to the company’s acquisition by LMI. Based in Kansas City with locations in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, Valent was looking to open a facility in the Lowcountry to be closer to Gulfstream’s Savannah home and Boeing’s Charleston facility.
Valent was “close” to committing to Savannah, according to SEDA’s Brandt Herndon, when the company broke off communications. SEDA would later learn LMI was negotiating the purchase for Valent, shifting the focus from a new facility for Valent to an expansion for LMI.
“This was what Valent was going to do here,” Herndon said. “The 100 jobs are new hires, not a relocation, and reflect the contract work Valent had lined up for Boeing and Gulfstream.”
LMI has already leased an additional 50,000 square feet of space for its expansion.