3/19/2010
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT
Helped by Public Funds, Star Technologies Finds Growth in Aviation, Transit in Bracket Fasteners
Huntington, WV-based Star Technologies produced 3.5 million bracket fasteners and other parts in 2009, the State Journal in Huntington reports.
“That’s by no means our best year ever but nevertheless a figure we’re very pleased with,” managing partner Rick Houvouras told the State Journal. “We were on track to have a record year in 2008 until the last two months of the year, when the bottom fell out of everything. Then it took a while to build things back in 2009.”
Star Technologies produces bracket fasteners for military and commercial jet engine manufacturers and is ISO 9002 and AS9000 certified.
In recent months Star Technologies reportedly has expanded its business with GE Aviation while gaining a new customer: New Flyer, a manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses in the U.S. and Canada.
Star Technologies has 14 full-time employees plus two part-time workers to manufacture 200 different parts for GE using laser systems and advanced water-jet technology. The company provides parts to customers in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, the UK, Poland and Malaysia.
The company was founded in 1994 when Houvouras and other local investors raised $800,000 and cobbled together a workforce of former Adel Precision Products workers who knew how to make fasteners. Some of those workers eventually became partners in the new business.
Houvouras is a former member of the West Virginia House of Delegates who credits state government with helping the new company by providing low-interest loans and work force training grants.
Houvouras also credited the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing for its assistance.
“RCBI not only allowed us to use some machines that we wouldn’t otherwise have had access to but provided training for our employees to help them use the latest technology,” he said.
RCBI also helped the company obtain the quality certifications required by aerospace manufacturers and other OEM customers.
Star Technologies LLC is located at 2400 Fourth Ave., Huntington, WV 25702. Tel: 304 697-1177 Fax 304 697-1181.
©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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