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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Jet Orders Lift Insulation Firm

A Camarillo maker of aviation insulation is expanding its campus amid a surge of orders from airlines that are buying the new generation of fuel-efficient jets. Hi-Temp Insulation, which occupies 142,000 square-feet at a business park, saw its business grow 22 percent last year and is on pace to grow 7 percent this year on sales of $75 million, said founder and Chief Executive Sieg Borck. The expansion is being driven by its main customers, Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS, which have a backlog of orders for the new jets, which are made of composite fibers and powered by engines that use up to 20 percent less fuel. “We don’t have to go out there and find more business,” said Borck, who projects the company could hit $100 million in sales in a few years. Hi-Temp, among the larger private employers in Camarillo with 650 workers, produces 2,000 pieces of high-tech thermal insulation a month for commercial airliners, military jets and rockets taking payloads into space. The insulation blankets parts in and around engines and other areas that generate or are exposed to extreme heat. Able to withstand a 2,000 degree flame for 15 minutes, the insulation is in use on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner now in service for Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, British Airways and Air India; and the Airbus A330 flown by Lufthansa, Qantas, Turkish Airlines and Korean Air. Global deliveries of new aircraft are projected to reach $105 billion this year and increase by $10 billion in 2014, said John Mowry, a vice president with ICF SH&E, an aviation and technology consultancy based in Fairfax, Va. Airlines serving commercial air markets in North America and Western Europe want these planes to replace older, less fuel efficient jets. Emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East buy them to expand their fleets. In fact, the 10,000 planes already on order represent six to seven years of continuous work for the aircraft manufacturers. And demand is only expected to grow. “Backlogs are at an all-time high,” Mowry said. “No one is planning reductions in production rates and we have seen them increase the rates over the past couple of years.” Industry veteran Borck, a native of Germany, came to the U.S. in 1957. Despite limited English, he landed a position in Santa Clara with a division of Owens Corning Corp., of Toledo, Ohio, that developed aircraft insulation for then-emerging passenger jets and top secret military aircraft such as the SR-71 Blackbird. When the division he worked for moved to Georgia in the early 1960s, Borck stayed in California. He started Hi-Temp in 1964 in North Hollywood and later sold it to another company. Borck said the company failed to prosper under the new ownership and he bought it back in 1974 and moved it to Camarillo where it’s been since. Over the years, the business mix has changed, transitioning from space applications to the point where commercial aircraft now account for 75 percent of Hi-Temp’s sales. “The (space) shuttle was one of our biggest jobs for many, many years,” Borck said. These days Hi-Temp workers have their hands full with Boeing and Airbus orders. Borck noted that the new generation of composite aircraft are more susceptible to heat than planes made with aluminum or titanium – meaning they require more insulation. The company, for instance, insulates the thrust reversers – the equipment that slows a jet down after landing – for the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s newest jet, while its biggest-selling item is reversers for the Airbus A320. Cost for the insulation varies. For example, one set of thrust reversers for another plane, the Boeing 777, has 10 large pieces and a series of smaller pieces that cover openings to improve safety. The company makes one a day and the cost ranges from $25,000 to $50,000 per engine, depending on the size. “In case of fire you don’t want any flames to get behind the (insulation) blanket,” Borck said. Campus setting When faced with the need to expand into a fourth building, Borck didn’t have to look far. Next door to Hi-Temp was a 68,000-square-foot vacant building most recently used to manufacturer solar panels. Hi-Temp purchased the building for $5.6 million, closing the deal last month. The new building at 4545 Calle Alto is the fourth occupied by Hi-Temp and the third it owns in a campus setting in an industrial park that also includes a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf roasting plant, semiconductor manufacturer Vitesse Corp. and Power-One Inc., a solar equipment manufacturer. By the end of the year, Hi-Temp will have installed eight new production lines in the building, giving it a total of 14 lines – the most the company has ever had. The investment in the new building is a significant purchase and a good sign that Hi-Temp is committed to staying in Camarillo and adding to its workforce, said John Fraser, a Camarillo city senior management analyst. “When companies make those purchases it lends credence to their importance and what they think of the area,” Fraser said. Some equipment has already been moved into the new space, including a laser cutter with a price tag of $400,000 that cuts insulation pads and reduces the amount of manual handwork. This is also where soundproof kits for two variations of the Boeing Business Jet are produced and assembled. A nearly 20-foot-long cutting machine slices up green and white fiberglass into rectangles that are then fit together with black dampening material to improve the acoustics in planes. Like the other Hi-Temp buildings, the new one will be self-contained to eliminate movement of parts and materials from other locations. The other buildings each have their own press for making parts. Two buildings contain production lines for insulating thrust reversers. The company’s original building at 4700 Calle Alto includes the corporate offices, the shipping department and the metal production line that encapsulates insulation within stainless steel for use aboard older military jets, such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15 Eagle. The new buildings also works as a marketing tool. For Borck, it’s important to show executives from Boeing and Airbus that Hi-Temp has space to handle additional orders coming its way. “That is what your customers want to see,” said the 75-year-old Borck. “Otherwise they ask, ‘Where are you going to do the work?’”

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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