Northwest Florida Manufacturing News Monthly

FloridaMakes Success Story: Honeycomb Aircraft Repair Center in Escambia County

Honeycomb Aircraft Repair Center, LLC (HARC) is recognized as a leader in the repair and overhaul of bonded metal-to-metal, metal-to-honeycomb, and honeycomb to epoxy-composite assemblies for commercial and military fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. HARC’s expertise is in the repair and re-manufacture of flaps, leading and trailing edges, rudders, stabilizers, ailerons, control surfaces, metal-to-metal bonded fuselage sections, skins, wing tips, strut doors, main landing gear doors, floor boards, and other aero structure assemblies. HARC are registered in SAM as a total small business, and is ITAR registered. HARC is certified in AS9100:2009, Rev. C; AS9110:2012, Rev. B; and ISO 9001:2008. HARC is an FAA Part 145 Repair Station.

Honeycomb Aircraft Repair, located in Cantonment, FL, is new to the area and a new member of the Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council. The company is in the process of establishing their local business connections. The company has plans to develop a robust repair center in Northwest Florida and needs to locate vendors who will supply parts and services to support their local growth. One area of need is fabrication of tooling jigs used for holding aircraft parts during repair.

The University of West Florida/FloridaMakes Business Advisor at the Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council worked with Honeycomb to identify an experienced tooling and fabrication supplier who was willing and qualified to quote, build and deliver quality jigs on a timely basis. The FloridaMakes Business Advisor set up meetings between Honeycomb and a qualified metal fabrication company (Gulf Tool, Inc). Gulf Tool, also a new member of NWFMC, successfully built the first in a series of jigs and will continue to work with Honeycomb as they expand their operations.

NWFMC General Membership Meeting in Washington County

West Point Home is hosting our next General Membership Meeting on July 17th. Join us to hear how West Point Home has redesigned their business using an agile strategy and capabilities in supply chain and logistics. In a change from past General Membership Meetings, we will start at 11 a.m. and include lunch.

Terry Ellis of West Point Home (right) shows Daniel Krug of FloridaMakes (eft) the warehouse that allows them to serve very small to very large orders. These are all capable because of their agile operations systems.

NWFMC Annual Meeting in Bay County

On October 16, our annual meeting will take place from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Sheraton Panama City Beach Golf and Spa Resort. Lunch will be included in the meeting and a cocktail reception will follow. Dr. Jerry Parrish, Chief Economist and Director of Research at the Florida Chamber Foundation, has agreed to speak.

The Sheraton Panama City Beach Golf & Spa Resort, along with several of our eastern region manufacturing partners, was damaged during Hurricane Michael. They are recovering well, and we are looking forward to seeing the completed renovation as we highlight the past, plan for the future, and award our Manufacturer of the Year. Please call one of your FloridaMakes Business Advisors or Program Manager Paul Miller (315-759-9254) to attend.

Florida Sterling Council and FloridaMakes Announce Finalists for the Florida Sterling Manufacturing Business Excellence Awards

The Florida Sterling Council and FloridaMakes today announced that 33 manufacturing companies have been named as finalists for the third annual Florida Sterling Manufacturing Business Excellence Awards. The winners, chosen from the finalists, will be announced at the 2019 Governor's Sterling Awards Banquet at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes on May 31 in Orlando.

The Florida Sterling Council and FloridaMakes collaborated on these statewide awards to recognize the state’s high-performing manufacturers. Companies were judged on six criteria categories: leadership; strategic planning; customers; measurement; analysis and knowledge management, workforce; and operations.

This year’s finalists include American Elite Molding of Crestview, Eastman Chemical of Pace, Fort Walton Machining of Fort Walton Beach, and the Pall Corporation of Pensacola. Congratulations to our great Northwest Florida representatives.

FloridaMakes is a great resource and can help your company address current challenges, create new opportunities for growth and achieve measurable results. To learn how FloridaMakes’ services can unlock growth opportunities and cost savings for your company, contact your FloridaMakes’ Business Advisor Daniel Krug at dkrug@uwf.edu, (850) 612-5895, John Davis at jdavis6@uwf.edu, (850) 384-5275, or Mary Nutial at mnutial@uwf.edu, (850) 426-9145.

FloridaMakes is an industry-led public-private partnership operated by participating Regional Manufacturers Associations throughout Florida. As part of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership network, FloridaMakes is the official representative of NIST MEP in the State of Florida. Learn more at www.floridamakes.com.

Manufacturing Profile: Walton County

Walton County attracts investment in fields such as logistics and aviation and it ranks among the 25 fastest growing counties in the United States with a current population of 70,200 people. In the previous 4-years, Walton County’s population increased by 20 percent, thanks in part to the tourists who choose to make this part of Florida their home.

Walton County benefits from a well-educated workforce. Walton is one of three counites in Florida that host Eglin Air Force Base, the world’s largest DoD installation. Eglin maintains a high-tech workforce that includes many scientists from the DoD research facilities. Walton has 5,900 veterans compared to the national average for an area this size at 3,970.

The total number of jobs in the county increased by 4,800 across the last five years. Looking ahead, county officials and business leaders expect to add 3,400 new jobs to the county by 2024. D&B reports that Walton County’s manufacturing sector has about 800 jobs and EMSI estimates the gross regional product in manufacturing to be at $50.56 million. The household income is $50,600.

Walton County is working to provide gigabit internet to all residents and business owners. Improvements to the county’s broadband capacity identified solutions that include fiber connectivity in all business parks (50 buildings total). Gigabyte service is also at schools, college facilities, libraries, county buildings and emergency service structures.

Lunch & Learn with NWFMC

May kicked off a new venture, providing Lunch & Learns for current and prospective NWFMC members. Amanda Potts from Crystal Sky Marketing Communications led the initial offering at Voices in Pensacola on leadership development, effective communication strategies, team building and change management.

Lee Elebash and Russell Van Sickle of Beggs and Lane hosted Lunch & Learns in Panama City and Pensacola to talk about what every manufacturing supervisor should know about employment law.

Our next Lunch & Learn will be on June 19 in Pensacola and June 20 in Panama City, where Digital Boardwalk will present on cybersecurity. To sign up, please contact contact your FloridaMakes’ Business Advisor Daniel Krug at dkrug@uwf.edu, (850) 612-5895, John Davis at jdavis6@uwf.edu, (850) 384-5275, or Mary Nutial at mnutial@uwf.edu, (850) 426-9145.

NWFMC Seeks Student and Teacher Nominations

NWFMC is seeking nominations for a teacher and a student from one of our educational partners. If you have a nominee, please contact Paul Miller ( pmiller2@uwf.edu), NWFMC Program Manager, with reasons why that individual is a stand-out representative of NWFMC’s vision to building a talent pipeline for manufacturers in Northwest Florida.