Economic Development News

LAI Upgrades Westminster Facility

LAI International, Inc., a strategic supplier of precision components and sub-assemblies for original equipment manufacturers, announced it has completed a major facility upgrade program at its’ Maryland facility to support increased customer demand.

State-of-the-art waterjet machining workstations have been installed at LAI’s manufacturing plant in Westminster, Md., allowing the facility to handle larger material sheet sizes and doubling the number of cutting heads. Additional intensifier units, high-pressure lines and water purification equipment have been installed to increase capacity for advanced waterjet machining.

As part of the facility upgrade program and lean manufacturing initiatives, production workstations have been refurbished and the plant layout has been enhanced.

“We’ve re-structured the arrangement of work cells on the production floor, re-configuring our systems for more efficient and flexible workflow,” said Stephanie Miller, plant manager of the Westminster, Md., facility. “We’ve made significant changes to smooth out the process flow, and reduce excess motion and waiting times in several production lines.”

This news comes after a recent announcement that LAI has been named to the Inc. 5,000 list of fastest-growing U.S. companies for the second consecutive year. LAI has shown three-year sales revenue growth of 129% and moved up the list nearly 900 places from 3,688 in 2007 to 2,797 in 2008.

LAI also released news in August 2008 that it had been awarded several contracts with the U.S. Army to produce vehicle armor systems development by the Army Research Lab designed to stop high-threat level penetrating explosives. The contracts in total are valued at over $15 million.

About LAI International
LAI is the premier manufacturer of precision engineered components and assemblies for aerospace, power generation, defense and other advanced technology industries. The company is a major supplier of finished goods. Its technology, engineering and manufacturing solutions are the lifeblood of airframes, aircraft engines, power generators, defense systems and other mission-critical applications. LAI is the largest precision contract manufacturer in its class with the fastest growth as ranked by Inc. Magazine. LAI has longstanding and strategic relationships with all leading global players in every area of their operations, including Boeing, Eaton, GE, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, and more than 70 percent of Fortune 500 global manufacturers. LAI operates five manufacturing facilities, dispersed in key manufacturing regions across North America, with locations in Minneapolis, Phoenix, Tucson, Westminster, Md., and Scarborough, Maine—all of which are ISO 9001:2000 and AS9100 certified. The company also offers NADCAP certified non-conventional machining processes.

For more information, see www.LAIco.com.

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