Company aerospace certified
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 5, 2010 1:50 AM
Goldsboro Machine Works has become the second company in the county, possibly the region, to earn the certification required to do business with the aerospace industry.
The awarding of the Aerospace Standard AS9100 and International Quality System Standard ISO 9001 were announced recently during a brief ceremony at the company on U.S. 70 West.
Petra Precision Machining & Design is the only other county firm to have earned the designation.
The certifications benefit not only Goldsboro Machine Works, but it enhances the county and region's reputations as a growing center for aerospace work, said Mike Haney, the existing industry specialist for the Wayne County Development Alliance.
Founded in 1977, the company was purchased by Mount Olive native DeAnna McCullen, a mechanical engineer, in October 2000.
"We are a production machine shop. We make component parts for other manufacturing companies," Ms. McCullen said. "They supply us with the drawing and we make the part. We make them out of all kinds of materials, aluminum, stainless steel, plastic, copper, brass, lots of different materials. We make parts for other manufacturers to use to assemble whatever they make."
Locally, the company makes components for IMPulse NC, Turkington and AAR Cargo.
Ms. McCullen said that Goldsboro Machine Works has had a quality assurance program in place that was ISO equivalent, but was not certified because of the expense and since none of her customers required it.
"Anybody producing products for the aerospace industry now have to be certified,' she said. "In the past you could do work for another supplier that was certified as long as somebody in the chain was certified, but now Boeing and Airbus and the big aerospace companies are requiring all suppliers all the way down to the bottom level be 9100 certified."
The company was able to build on its existing quality system, mostly in regards to the traceability and verification of parts and materials and a lot of extra paperwork, she said.
"It will allow us to continue to do work for our current aerospace customers and hopefully open doors with other aerospace customers," she said. "Also, there are a lot of companies in high-tech industries, especially electrical components and medical industry, that require quality certification, so this should open doors in those industries."
Currently the company has seven employees running two shifts. It will be hiring two more employees.
Wayne Community College paid for the training, but the company paid for all of the certification and audits. It has taken it almost two years to complete the certification process.
Even if the certification does not bring in more customers, Ms. McCullen is hopeful it will still make the company more profitable.
Ms. McCullen attended Wayne Community College, where she received an associate degree in mechanical drafting and design. She earned her mechanical engineering degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Afterward, she worked in tool and machine design for 10 years, but wanted to move back home.
While the certifications are required to do business with aviation companies such as Spirit in Kinston and AAR Cargo Systems in Goldsboro, there are other industries that bid projects out that require it as well, Haney said.
"How important is this to our county and region?" he said. "We are in North Carolina's Eastern Region, which is one of seven economic development partnerships in the state. It encompasses 13 counties, of which Wayne is one. One of their priority clusters is defense and aerospace and this (certification) fits perfectly within that realm.
"They (Goldsboro Machine Works) are on the front end of this. You can think of it as a certificate of dreams much like you think of a field of dreams -- you get the certificate and hope the business will come. Well, the business is going to be there."
"This is a big, big deal," Haney said during the brief program. "It is the holy grail for machine shops. As DeAnna stated, this is going to open up numerous opportunities."
John Chaffee, president of North Carolina's Eastern Region, said the aerospace industry will grow over the next five years and that Wayne County will be in a position to service those industries, both existing and new ones.