WINDSOR Aero Gear Inc., a 36 year-old manufacturer of aerospace components for clients like Sikorsky Aircraft and Pratt & Whitney, marked the opening Tuesday of a 24, 000 square foot addition to its 1050 Day Hill Road plant, in which it also has additional 25 employees over the previous two years. The expansion, which brings the plant adds a brand-new lobby, conference room, and offices, in addition to added manufacturing space. Aero Gear makes a wide variety of gears and gearbox systems for engines. Company founder and President Douglas Rose stated the growth was required to maintain pace. The growth is a signal that the business is committed to remaining in Connecticut, he stated.

Rose said, in a dialogue cutting ceremony. He said while theres any truth to that, Connecticut is a superb location for aerospace businesses, because producers that his company supplies are down the road, in Stratford and East Hartford. Theres an aerospace cluster he said, that the state Department of Community and Economic Development has encouraged over the last decade. The DECD also has worked with the countries colleges, such as Enfields Asnuntuck Community College, to train the next generation of aerospace workers. Those programs are also encouraging students to consider careers in extremely skilled, well paid manufacturing jobs, Rose stated.

He added that it’s paramount that the states producers continually adopt the most recent technological advances to remain competitive. Thats how his firm has been able to compete with businesses in lower cost locations around the globe, Rose said. Today, 30 percent of our company is in exports,” he said. He cited the states 2014 agreement with Pratt parent United Technologies Corp. As a major contributor to his companys capability to grow here. Under the arrangement, known as the Connecticut Aerospace Reinvestment Act, UTC pledged to invest at least $500 million in its Connecticut operations in return for $400 million in tax benefits. Which Had a positive flow down impact on firms like Aero Gear, Rose said. Rose grew up in Windsor and recalled picking tobacco as a youth in the fields in which Aero Gear now stands.