Collins Aerospace expanding facility on West Plains, will create 50 jobs

Collins Aerospace Systems, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., is expanding its carbon brake manufacturing facility on the West Plains.

The company is investing $145 million in the facility expansion, which calls for three additional buildings totaling 75,000 square feet at 11135 W. Westbow Blvd. The expansion is slated to begin by 2021 and will result in 50 new production and support jobs, according to a company statement.

“Thanks to (Spokane’s) strong local talent pool and blossoming aerospace cluster, we’ve been able to grow for more than 20 years and we’re excited to continue to invest in our business here,” Greg Smith, director of operations for Collins Aerospace’s Spokane facility, said in an email. “Our wheel and brake business continues to enjoy significant demand from our commercial airline customers, and we look forward to enhancing our ability to meet their needs by expanding our carbon brake manufacturing operations in Spokane.”

The expansion is part of the company’s growth plans that include building a landing gear assembly and brake maintenance facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and adding 40,000 square feet to its carbon brake facility in Pueblo, Colorado.

“Once our projects in Fort Worth, Spokane and Pueblo are complete, we will have invested $225 million, while creating more than 100 new jobs across those communities,” Ajay Mahajan, vice president of landing systems at Collins Aerospace, said in the statement.

Collins Aerospace’s West Plains facility, which opened in 1999 as a BFGoodrich operation, has more than 226 employees at its West Plains facility, according to a list of Spokane’s leading manufacturers published by the Spokane Journal of Business.

The Spokane region is the nation’s fifth-largest aerospace cluster and the state’s second-largest, according to Greater Spokane Incorporated, the region’s chamber of commerce and economic development council. The area has more than 120 aerospace-related manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and organizations.

Farmington, Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. is a provider of technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. It acquired Iowa-based Rockwell Collins and merged it with UTC Aerospace Systems to form Collins Aerospace in 2018.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Collins Aerospace, which manufactures products for the aviation industry, has more than 150 sites operating in 25 countries.