LOCAL FORT WALTON BEACH MACHINERY COMPANY OPENS NEW FACILITY

The below is another step in the growth of the our local area in the Aerospace Industry. Not only is this company supporting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Project, it will be used for other projects supporting our defense industry, as well as, other commercial opportunities. Having Lockheed Martin as a partner is not a bad choice either.

Fort Walton Machining opens new facility
Dusty Ricketts
2011-02-25 18:22:30
FORT WALTON BEACH — Fort Walton Machining’s newest facility is now fully operational. Representatives from Lockheed Martin attended Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for Fort Walton Machining’s new metal finishing division facility on Anchors Street. The event also celebrated Fort Walton Machining and Lockheed’s partnership in the U.S. Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program, which was instrumental in the development of the new building. Among the Lockheed projects that Fort Walton Machining’s metal finishing division builds parts for is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Fort Walton Machining joined the Mentor-Protégé Program with Lockheed Martin in June 2010. Greg Britton, chief executive officer of Fort Walton Machining, said the biggest benefit of the program has been the completion of the facility. Lockheed Martin sent employees to Fort Walton Machining during its development to make sure all of its equipment met specifications for the F-35 and other projects. “This is a state-of-the-art aerospace facility, just like our machining division, and we wanted that to be portrayed that way,” Britton said. Construction on the company’s building started in October 2009. The plant started producing parts for the F-35 last month. About 20 of Fort Walton Machining’s more than 200 employees work at the new metal finishing facility. The mentor-protégé partnership between Fort Walton Machining and Lockheed Martin started in June 2010 and is scheduled to end June 30, although Britton said it could be extended. J.R. McDonald, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of Northwest Florida operations, said the mentor-protégé program benefits both companies, and that those benefits will continue after the official partnership ends. “We get to spend a lot of time with the supplier that makes a lot of parts for us and make sure their process aligns with our processes,” McDonald said. “(Lockheed Martin is) trying to make them an end-to-end supplier for us so we have a single source to go to for parts that are qualified for the airplane that we know will be exactly what we’re looking for. One-stop shopping, if you will.” In addition to the F-35, Fort Walton Machining is a supplier for several other Lockheed Martin’s projects, including the F-22, F-16 and C-130J. The Department of Defense started the Mentor-Protégé Program in 1991 to assist small businesses in competing for contracts and subcontracts by pairing them with larger companies.