Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Accuracy vital for product

Unlike other Goodrich plants, the one located in the Clark County Industrial Park at Gum Springs focuses on post-production parts.

This plant, according to plant manager Gary Baker, does nothing but manufacture parts for aircraft no longer in production, but still in use.

The company's primary customer is Boeing.

At this time, he said, there are 182 people working at the Gum Springs facility.

All employees at the plant are salaries, with terms of employment based on the principles of trust and respect.

All employees, he said, are expected to behave in a professional manner, be committed to doing their job right and take ownership in what they do.

This is to be done, he added, with teamwork and ethical behavior on the part of all employees.

The company's business strategy is one of enterprise excellence, as there are no standard contracts between this plant and its customers because of the nature of the work done.

"We have to earn the right to be in business," Baker said.

The Goodrich plant has 250,000 square feet of factory space, with expectations of needing another 150,000 square feet because of predicted growth.

Baker said the company expects to do $28 million in sales this year, up from $14 million last year.

In 1999, he said, the company did $4 million in sales, and started off in 1998 with $46,000 in sales.

Some of the equipment, he said, dates back to the 1920s, but is still considered "high-tech" because of the nature of the parts made.

"We try to be flexible as the work comes in," he said. "We try and train knowledge into the employees, to make the right product right the first time and delivered on time every time."

The plant, he said, is set up to do $50 million in sales in 2002, depending on what the economy does.

Following the attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, he said, the company began "right sizing" for its sales to remain where they are and not to expect the growth predicted as it had planned.

The plant is divided into a number of different areas, with employees literally creating the parts from scratch in each area. The work done must be exact because the lives of those who fly on the planes built from these parts depend on it.