Five years ago, Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. announced plans to close its Stuart plant, a move that would have ended more than 50 years of history at Witham Field.

Now, the Dallas-based airline parts manufacturer calls Stuart a success
story. The plant has won more company awards than any other site. It just announced its second major expansion in two years, and Vought¹s chief executive officer says Stuart “has offset” some of the company¹s losses with the downturn of the economy.

So how did the Stuart plant come back from the brink?

Paul Sandu, general manager of the plant, gives most of the credit to the company’s president and chief executive officer, Elmer Doty, for keeping them open.

Doty, who came to Vought from BAE Systems Inc. in 2006, reversed the company’s decision to close its facilities in Stuart and Nashville, saying such a move wouldn’t generate enough savings to offset the costs of consolidation.

In Stuart, that decision was seen as a second chance.

They modified tool boxes so that equipment was easier to find and put away.

They put signs at each work station showing the company’s goals and how close the plant was to meeting them. They also tracked how close employees were to earning a bonus based on work performance.

So far, the changes have paid off at Witham Field.

The Stuart plant has won two major contracts from Boeing, Vought¹s biggest customer, in the last couple years. Last year, it won a contract to make rudders for the Boeing 747-8, the aerospace company¹s improvement on its 747.

This summer, it won a contract to make outboard flaps and ailerons for the Boeing 777 and inboard flaps for the Boeing 737. It also kept its contract to make inboard flaps for the 777.

The new work will require a $3.4 million expansion at the plant and result in about 100 new positions, Sandhu said. Six people already have been hired and another eight to 10 are expected to come on board by the end of the year, he said. Construction on the expansion, which just started, should be done in about 18 months.

That’s all good news to Doty, who visited the Stuart plant last week.

“Now it’s competing on a world stage” he said.

Tags: business, Martin County, Stuart, Vought

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