Progress • March, 2015 35

PRIEST RIVER/PRIEST LAKE

Priest river’s Aerocet oPtimistic About the future

space. They rented a building for storage that is completely full. With limited options left, Aerocet has to at least entertain expansion with the potential growth they are seeing and with perceived future needs. A build-ing with a range size of 50,000-75,000 square feet could be needed.

(MOU) with NIC to be an official NIC extension location for their aero-space composites program. They wanted to offer the NIC Aerospace program in closer proximity to local residents. I

“It is good for Aerocet and good for the community, so we approached NIC and they were amazing, they stepped right up and we met several times to hash out the logistics. We have installed the composites ovens and work benches. NIC will supply a tool kit to students and curriculum,” Garry Hojan, Operations Manager said. “Aerocet has a composites instructor on staff who will teach the lab classes after hours,” he added.

There will be evening classes that begin in May. Watch for upcoming information events that are going to be held in April in Priest River and Sandpoint. Anyone from Bonners Ferry to Sandpoint to Priest River can go to the NIC Sandpoint office and do the composites theory pro-gram online and then do the lab work in Aerocet’s classroom/produc-tion environment.

Aerocet is always looking for dedicated and qualified individu-als to join their team, and if they go through this program they will actually have a starting wage that is $1-$2/hour higher to start than if they came in without taking the courses. If they continue with the additional courses in the program through NIC they can make another $1-$2/hour.

In 2009, Aerocet was adversely affected by the recession and through layoffs went from a high of 40 employees down to only 15. Just five years later, Aerocet has rebuilt the company and now employs 47 people, not including owners Tom and Linda Hamilton.

Aerocet is in the midst of the largest research and development project the company has ever under-taken, the development and FAA

See AEROCET, Page 37

In the region, Aerocet has been instrumental in the beginnings of the Idaho Aerospace Alliance, the North Idaho College’s Aerospace Center of Excellence and starting this spring for the very first time there will be a 4H Aerospace Program. It will be in Sandpoint thanks to a pilot at Quest Aircraft Company taking a referral from Aerocet on the program and running with it. Aerocet hosted a tour of 28 Sandpoint High School students who are going through the schools specialized program geared to teaching students who have an interest in advanced manufacturing technologies and aerospace. A few of the students actually have their pilots license.

The Aerospace Center of Excellence program has been a great success. It was set up through a grant that was to retrain veterans and find them gainful employment. Aerocet has hired two retrained veteran employees through the NIC Aerospace Center of Excellence pro-gram and one non-veteran through the program.

Aerocet is entering into a Memorandum of Understanding

By TERRI IVIEStaff writer

PRIEST RIVER — Home is where the float is.

In other words, Aerocet considers Priest River their home and pos-sible expansion plans are focused on remaining here because it is Aerocet’s preference and goal to con-tinue to support the community that has supported them for 29 years.

They are currently working with the Priest River Development Corporation, the City of Priest River, Bonner County, State Representatives and branches of gov-ernment on expansion plans for both space and efficiency reasons. But other sites are part of the feasibility study.

They currently have one building that has 15,000 square feet and one that has 20,000 square feet and they state they seem to be getting smaller and farther apart every day. They have had custom steel overhead racks built to store tooling when not in use to try and free up floor space. They also implemented certain lean manufacturing principles and practic-es to conserve and free up additional

—Photo by TERRI IVIE

Aerocet owner Tom Hamilton after returning with these new floats from Renton, Wash., recently.

—Photo by TERRI IVIE

This trio of Aerocet employees are part of the Aerospace Center of Excellence program. Pictured, from left, are Cason Spencer, and veterans Sonya Kelley and Spencer Rhodes.

Progress • March, 2015 37

AEROCETContinued from Page 35

certification of amphibious (can land on water or land) carbon fiber hybrid floats for the Quest Kodiak aircraft. The program began in 2005 and progressed very slowly in the background until 2010 when it came to a complete halt due to uncertainties over Quest’s sustain-ability.

By 2012, Quest bolstered their resources to continue the Kodiak program and Aerocet turned the program back on in earnest. To date, Aerocet has invested close to $5 million in the program, and it has put a strain on the company’s resources at times, but better than expected sales revenue in existing product and contract manufacturing has helped offset the research and development burden. Aerocet sees the Quest purchases by Setouchi as a posi-tive move for Quest and believes it will also have a positive impact on

Aerocet. Company officials specu-late this purchase will provide Quest resources for expansion and if Quest expands there is a pos-sibility that the Aerocet expansion will come to fruition since they are a Tier one supplier to Quest.

“We are thankful that the pur-chase includes the intention of keeping operations in Sandpoint and keeping the current Quest employee base,” Hojan noted.

Aerocet has to go through two certification/approval processes for each of its certified products. First they have to certify the prod-uct on its own, this is called a TSO or Technical Standard Order. This applies only to the floats and does not take into account the aircraft the project will be installed on.

The second approval is called an STC or Supplemental Type Certificate. This is specific to each and every model of aircraft that the floats will be installed on. A separate STC approval is required for each aircraft model/type. All of this is resource and capital inten-

sive as you can tell by the amount of investment already made. Aerocet estimated receiving both oft the approvals within the next few months.

The Kodiak floats, Aerocet Model 6650, will be a game changer for Aerocet. Currently the largest floats they sell are a 5850 series straight float (can only land on water) for the de Havilland Beaver and the list price on them is $70,000. The Model 6650 floats for the Kodiak are amphibious and have dual landing gear main wheels, larger than anything they have built to date and they will have a list price in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The price will be finalized once certification is obtained. This includes the instal-lation hardware but not the actual installation which is typically per-formed at authorized dealers and service centers.

Of course the research and development and liability insurance costs are extremely high, however the product will allow Aerocet to

continue adding product lines, take care of their current employees, add additional employment and expand their customer base, all which helps the local economy and meets needs within the com-munity. Aerocet expects to break through the 50 employee mark very shortly after the certification program is complete and continue to grow beyond that.

Aerocet is very active in the community, the region and throughout the world. They volun-teer and donate to various chari-ties and causes such as Hospice, Advocates for Women, Priest River Community Foundation, the food bank, the senior center, the Lions, Rotary, and Relay for Life, as well as others.

Aerocet is a large part of the success in the Industrial Park on Shannon Lane and join Lone Wolf Distributors, Selkirk Timber Wrights, FMI, Recycling Equipment Manufacturing, Carousel/Ski To, Safetyline, Inc. and Freez Manufacturing.

– Local Business Owners Pay Local Taxes– Local Business Owners Employ Locals– Local Business Owners Support our Schools– Local Business Owners Make Their Community Better

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