Magazine features Elmore County Aviation Growth

January 24, 2009

Tallassee is rural community that has proven to be highly attractive to aerospace companies. One of the major attractions of Tallassee is its non-union work force. Location-wise, Tallassee is only 120 miles southwest of Atlanta, 60 miles southeast of Birmingham and 120 miles northeast from the Gulf Coast port of Mobile.

"Tallassee has had a lot of success – aerospace is its largest industry," says Eric Basinger, executive director of the Elmore County Development Authority. "We have had a few very good prospects come through here recently that are aviation-aerospace related. We deal mainly with aerospace manufacturing. GKN is Tallassee’s main aerospace presence."

GKN Aerospace has called Tallassee home for nearly 20 years. In 2005, GKN Aerospace decided to build a 120,000-square-foot expansion to its Tallassee facility as a result of the additional work the company won across its customer base. GKN’s expansion in rural Alabama totals about $21 million.

One of the world’s largest engineering companies, GKN Aerospace specializes in the supply of lightweight metallic and high-performance composite structures, transparency systems and equipment, and engineering services to prime airframe manufacturers.

"Our decision to expand in Alabama emphasizes our commitment to our customers and reaffirms our commitment to Alabama and our work force in providing a state-of-the-art manufacturing capability at competitive prices," says Paul Crocker, Vice President and General Manager of GKN Aerospace Alabama.

Basinger confirms that Tallassee has a productive work force, but it also has land. Elmore County offered GKN roughly 300 acres near an interstate so it is easy to get product to market. GKN supplies composite parts to facilities to aviation companies all over the country, but also sends parts to Europe for Airbus.

Small Town South
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