Gina Radke, chief executive officer of Galley Support Innovations in Sherwood (left) and engineer William Mauldin discuss the specifications for producing interior hardware for commercial and private aircraft on Thursday. ( John Sykes Jr.

Arkansas aviation and defense industry representatives are in Fort Smith this week with plans to spread their wings to include surrounding states.

The industry's annual conference -- set for three days beginning Tuesday at the Fort Smith Convention Center -- is expected to attract between 300 and 400 professionals from about 100 companies in Arkansas and from nine other states and three nations.

Billed as the Arkansas Aerospace and Defense Summit for its first 10 annual meetings, the 11th is being called the Mid-America Aerospace + Conference as part of a strategy to market business-to-business contacts beyond the state's borders.

Holding the conference in Fort Smith makes it more accessible to industry players in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. To underscore the new focus on the region rather than the state, the conference might be held in Tulsa, or even Kansas City in future years, organizers said.

The alliance began as an idea first aired by businessman Bob East more than a dozen years ago when he was a member of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission. The commission oversees the state's largest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, which at the time was home to aerospace industry players, Dassault Falcon Jet and Hawker Beechcraft.

The Arkansas Aerospace Alliance held its first conference in 2008. It hired its first and only executive director, Chad Causey, in 2013, and added the defense sector to the organization the following year.

Becoming a regional player is the next step in the evolution of the alliance and its conference, Causey said.

"Part of our mission is to grow business opportunities for the industry here in the state," he said. "We want to help them grow their business. We just want to have a further reach. Other regions in the country work together. They compete with each other but come together to showcase the industry."

Look no further than the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance, which held its 18th annual conference in February in Seattle. That conference attracted 650 professionals representing more than 350 companies from 35 states, four Canadian provinces and 12 countries.

The aviation industry in Arkansas accounts for a significant portion of the state's annual exports, regularly competing with agriculture for the state's top spot.

Including the defense sector, the industry employs nearly 15,000 people in the state with exports totaling $1.7 billion in 2017, which represents 27 percent of the state's total exports, according to the Aerospace Industries Association.

"We've got a strong and robust industry throughout the state," Causey said.

A big slice of those exports are the line of corporate aircraft built by Dassault Falcon Jet. They are manufactured in France but are flown to the French company's completion center at Clinton National to be outfitted per the specifications of its customers, which can include avionics, paint schemes and cabin appointments. The center is home to an estimated 1,800 employees spread over 1.2 million square feet of facilities.

The defense sector is led by Lockheed Martin, which bases its Fire Control Center of Excellence at the Highland Industrial Park at Camden, which produces the Multiple Launch Rocket System, the Tactical Missile System missile and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launcher. It employs 650 people spread over 1.9 million square feet on 1,800 acres.

Another company with a significant Arkansas presence is Aerojet Rocketdyne. The California-based company produces rocket and missile propulsion systems at its Highland Park facility.

The industry includes dozens of smaller players, including Galley Support Innovations, a company in Sherwood that employs 42 people.

The company produces latches, locks, hinges and door-bolting systems used on commercial and high-end private aircraft. Galley Support's machinists and engineers build and design the items to demanding load, vibration and G-force tolerances required for aircraft.

Most people who have ever taken an airline flight likely would immediately recognize one of its products: the occupied/vacant latch on an aircraft lavatory door, said Gina Radke, the company's chief executive officer who also is the alliance president.

"It takes a talented staff of machinists and engineers and quality assurance to pull off aerospace specifications," Radke said.

Small companies like Galley Support Innovations appreciate venues like the Alliance's conference, which isn't as big as national conferences such as the National Business Aviation Association events in Orlando or Las Vegas or the international events such as the Paris Air Show and Farnborough Air Show. Or even the Northwest Pacific Aerospace Alliance event.

"We're a few hundred here. We get participation from the surrounding region," she said.

"Our [conferences] have always been popular because a lot of suppliers feel they have an advantage if they come to see Dassault, Lockheed or Triumph, if they come to see one of those companies here at a smaller venue instead of going to the Pacific Northwest aerospace show."

Suppliers have the opportunity to see a senior executive of a major manufacturer three or four times whereas they are lucky to get "seven minutes" with a Boeing executive at the Northwest Pacific event, Causey added. "Here you can develop relationships."

The Arkansas Alliance conference "is a huge help for smaller companies like us," Radke said. "It's an excellent way to get in front of the larger equipment manufacturers."

Bringing in other states will help fill a void in the middle part of the nation, which lacks an association for aviation and defense companies.

Nearby states have significant aerospace and defense presence. Tulsa is home to a major American Airlines maintenance facility employing 5,000 people. Kansas also has a significant aerospace industry.

Texas, which has several major aviation manufacturing facilities and has two airlines based in Dallas, also has the second-most attractive aerospace and defense market in the United States, behind only Washington state, according to rankings created by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the global professional consulting services firm based in London.

Arkansas's market ranked 43rd, but state officials are quick to point out that its costs metric -- which include energy, transportation, labor and construction costs and labor productivity -- the state ranks 5th.

It comes in last in the labor metric, which measures its aerospace labor force, high school graduates, college graduates and college graduates with advanced degrees as well as "union flexibility."

It also has mediocre rankings in infrastructure, industry, economy and tax policy.

"Arkansas' aerospace and defense industries have great advantages, but many challenges remain," Causey said. "That's why we're working with state officials to increase our global competitiveness through pro-business tax policies and workforce development."

Radke said she and other alliance members can bring such concerns directly to elected officials at the conference.

The conference's stable of presenters include Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is scheduled to deliver the keynote address on Wednesday. U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark, and Mike Preston, director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, also are scheduled to make presentations the same day.

The in-state presenters include executives from Aerojet Rocketdyne, Dassault Falcon Jet and Lockheed Martin as well as aviation legal and cybersecurity experts.

The presenters based out of state include executives from Gulfstream, the corporate aircraft manufacturer, and Southwest Airlines and Canada General Consul Douglas George.

"We try to focus on the business-to-business aspect of it," Causey said. "But we also have put together a program to provide relevant, timely and interesting information on topics that will be beneficial to the industry."

Engaging manufacturers and suppliers in the industry on a regional basis also will be beneficial, he said.

"This summit will allow us to build on our strengths and enhance our region's competitiveness on a global scale," Causey said.

Photo by John Sykes Jr.

Chantel Lewis, an employee of Galley Support Innovations in Sherwood, assembles parts for aircraft interiors on Thursday.

SundayMonday Business on 04/21/2019