Mercedes supplier SMP to open $150 million Alabama facility, creating 650 jobs
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Mercedes-Benz supplier Samvardhana Motherson Group plans to open a $150 million manufacturing facility in Tuscaloosa County, creating 650 jobs by the fourth year of operation, officials announced today. The new venture, called SMP Automotive Systems Alabama Inc., will manufacture various exterior and interior components for future models produced at the Mercedes assembly…
Auto supplier Kamtek to invest $530 million in Alabama expansion, creating 350 jobs
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Auto supplier Kamtek announced plans today to invest $530 million in an expansion of its Alabama operation that includes opening a new aluminum casting facility to meet automaker demands for lighter parts. Kamtek, whose parent company is Canada-based Magna International, says the expansion project in Birmingham will add 354 jobs to its…
Hyundai’s Alabama economic impact: $4.82 billion in 2014
Hyundai’s Alabama auto assembly plant and its supplier network generated a total impact approaching $5 billion in 2014 while also accounting for more than 12,600 direct jobs across the state, according to an analysis released today. The new study by M. Keivan Deravi, dean of the College of Public Policy and Justice at Auburn University…
NASA Marshall robot will build biggest composite rocket parts
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – A giant robot at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is helping the agency build the largest lightweight composite parts ever produced for space vehicles. The robot’s work at the Alabama facility may prove pivotal in NASA’s new Space Launch System, designed to be the most powerful rocket ever built, capable to taking…
European space company RUAG to launch Alabama manufacturing operation
DECATUR, Alabama – Switzerland-based RUAG announced today that it will launch an Alabama manufacturing operation after forming a strategic partnership with United Launch Alliance, which produces rockets at a factory in Decatur. RUAG, one of Europe’s leading suppliers of products for the space industry, said the new Alabama operation will produce carbon-fiber components for ULA’s…
REEL to open facility at Mobile Aeroplex to serve Airbus Alabama
MOBILE, Alabama – REEL USA Corp. will open an office and workshop at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, where the company will service the critical jigs and tools used in Airbus’ first U.S. manufacturing facility. Today’s announcement involving REEL is the latest in a string of Airbus-related expansion moves at the Aeroplex, where the France-based…
Marshall engineers 3-D print copper rocket part in NASA milestone
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – NASA engineers at Alabama’s Marshall Space Flight Center have produced the first full-scale, copper rocket part using additive manufacturing – a milestone for aerospace 3-D printing. The part is a combustion chamber liner that must operate at extreme conditions during flight. In fact, temperatures on the inside of the paper-thin copper liner…
Alabama aims to expand role in aerospace supply chain
DECATUR, Alabama – Companies that produce carbon fiber and specialty alloys for aircraft manufacturers have invested more than $1.7 billion in their Alabama facilities, making the state a growing player in the aerospace supply chain. Toray, the largest producer of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers, operates a Decatur plant that houses one of the world’s biggest…
GE Aviation readies first 3-D printed jet engine nozzle at Alabama plant
AUBURN, Alabama — GE Aviation is turning its facility in Auburn into the world’s first factory for 3-D printed jet engine fuel nozzles, landing the Alabama plant a starring role in a technology that promises to revolutionize aerospace manufacturing. GE Aviation, one of the world’s top aircraft engine producers, announced plans to introduce high-volume production of…
Airbus ships first major aircraft components to Alabama factory
MOBILE, Alabama — Airbus announced today that A320 Family aircraft production in the U.S. is on schedule to begin this summer as large components for the first Alabama-produced aircraft departed today from the port in Hamburg, Germany, bound for Mobile. The major component assemblies consist of the wings produced in the U.K., the rear fuselage…
