David Anderson Staff Writer Kinston Free Press Nearly two years after Spirit AeroSystems opened its doors in Kinston, the first glimmer of what state and local officials call an “aerospace cluster” can be seen in the form of CrateTech Inc. “I think what you’re seeing now is, hopefully, the beginning stages of what could be some pretty significant growth,” company President Ray Fricks said Tuesday. CrateTech Inc. was founded in the Seattle area in 1993 by Fricks and his wife Cherie. The company, which also has offices in Chicago and Wichita, Kan. — where Spirit is headquartered — specializes in…
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David Anderson Staff Writer, Kinston Free Press In tough economic times, any news of new jobs is good news, even if it is news of only a handful. With both of their Sorona fiber production lines currently running at full capacity, DuPont officials are looking to fill seven positions at their Kinston facility in the coming weeks. “As of today, they’re both running full,” Terry Gooding, a Cary-based regional spokesman for the Wilmington, Del., corporation, said Monday. DuPont, which was established in Delaware nearly 210 years ago in 1802 to manufacture and ship gunpowder, has grown into a worldwide corporation…
David Anderson Kinston Free Press In a little over a year, a full set of aircraft wing and fuselage components – broken into five shipments – has been shipped from Spirit AeroSystems’ Kinston plant, and company officials plan to ramp up to one shipment a month in the coming year. It is a place officials with the Wichita, Kan.-based supplier of aircraft components planned to be by the end of 2011. “We expected to ship two units before the end of the year, and what Airbus has asked us to do is plan on and prepare to ship one unit…
Justin Hill Staff Writer / Kinston Free Press Smithfield Packing Company, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods and the world’s largest pork processor, is expanding — and it is doing it in Lenoir County. On Thursday, Lenoir County Economic Development Director Mark Pope announced the deal, along with the economics incentive package, at a special meeting of the county commissioners. The commissioners approved the agreement 5-0 — Tommy Pharo and Linda Rouse Sutton could not attend the meeting — to expand the $100 million facility, which opened in Kinston in November 2006. Smithfield Packing Company, founded in 1936, specializes in fresh…
David Anderson Staff Writer, Kinston Free Press Officials with Spirit AeroSystems spent Friday preparing to send out a major shipment from Kinston on what has been described as the world’s largest cargo aircraft. Executives with the Wichita, Kan.-based aircraft component manufacturer — which operates manufacturing plants around the world, including at the N.C. Global TransPark in Kinston — expected the Kinston-built fuselage panels to depart on the Antonov An-124 cargo jet this weekend. The Russian-built jet landed at the Kinston Regional JetPort on Thursday, and was the subject of local curiosity Thursday and Friday. “There have been some people in…
Wesley Brown, Staff Writer Kinston Free Press July 20, 2011 Spirit AeroSystems will expand its workforce in Kinston by 150 to 200 employees over the next five years as company executives announced Tuesday plans to introduce a new product line at the N.C. Global TransPark. The independent supplier of commercial airplane manufacturers — one of the largest in the world — will establish production for the Gulfstream G250 wing at the state industrial site, according to Gov. Bev Perdue. Perdue said in a telephone interview with The Free Press Tuesday that officials decided against making the announcement part of a…
May 24, 2011 David Anderson Kinston Free Press Staff Writer Pioneer Hi-Bred has had a temporary facility in Kinston for about two years, but this summer will herald the building of a permanent research facility designed to help Southern farmers develop better corn and soybeans. “The new research center will further expand our efforts to provide products that fit the specific needs of farmers in this area,” stated Greg Wichmann, business director for Pioneer’s Southern Business Unit. “This geography brings unique challenges as it is mostly dry land, with both drought and heat stress impacting yield.” Pioneer Hi-Bred is an…
David Anderson Free Press Staff Writer In essence, a skid board is a sheet of plywood. But once it is placed under a cargo pallet bearing food, fuel, ammunition and other supplies, and dropped from an airplane to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, it becomes a critical component of the military’s re-supply efforts. Those boards are made in Kinston by a group of dedicated workers who are either blind or visually impaired. The 34 employees of the Lions Industries for the Blind’s Kinston factory — who make skid boards, weapons cleaning swabs, cloth covers and bags and other supplies…
David Anderson Staff Writer – Kinston Free Press March 10, 2011 West Pharmaceuticals will invest $29 million in its Kinston plant during the next five years, company, state and local leaders announced Thursday. The announcement was made during a dinner event at the Chef and the Farmer Restaurant. “It’s great to be back in Kinston,” Don Morel, chairman and CEO of the Pennsylvania-based company, told the audience. West has operated a manufacturing plant in Kinston since 1974. The original plant, on the Rouse Road Extension, was destroyed in a deadly explosion in 2003. The current plant opened in the U.S….
David Anderson Staff Writer – Kinston Free Press July 12, 2010 A New York State-based logistics firm is expected to bring up to 40 more jobs to the Global TransPark in the coming years. Officials of Schenker Logistics Inc., a logistics firm headquartered in Freeport, N.Y., signed a five-year renewable lease for half of an existing warehouse at the GTP, the Global TransPark Authority announced Monday. Schenker Logistics is a subsidiary of the international firm D.B. Schenker, which provides warehousing, transportation, manufacturing support and other services. “D.B. Schenker’s arrival at the GTP signals the continuing impact of Spirit’s opening, as…