Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

New Industry Coming

Unofficially, the opening of Rohr Industries in the Clark County Industrial Park has been made official.

Rohr's parent company, B.F. Goodrich, has announced it will invest about $30 million to construct and equip a new facility in the park.

This is in conjunction with a long-term contract Goodrich's Aerospace Aerostructures group signed with the Boeing Co. recently.

Under the contract, Goodrich will become the designated source of supply for a broad classification of specialized aerostructures for out-of-production airplanes, including nacelles, pylons and other related engine housing components.

These out-of-production planes include the 707, 727, 737-100 and -200, 747-100, -200 and -300, the DC-8, DC-9 and DC-10. In the near future, this will include the MD-80, MD-90 and MD-11 aircraft as well.

In total, according to a release from Goodrich, there are about 5,200 out-of-production airplanes currently in service, and estimates indicate this number will increase to 9-400 by the year 2001.

Goodrich estimates sales of $400 million for the life of the contract, including current and future business.

For Clark County, the opening of the plant in the industrial park will mean 200-300 jobs during the next three to five years.

Dave Watson, group vice president of the Aerostructures, Group said, the contract expands the long-standing relationship Goodrich and Boeing have had and takes advantage of the progress the two companies have made in implementing lean manufacturing techniques.

The Goodrich Aerostructures Group was established in 1997 following the merger between Goodrich and Rohr, Inc.