Shooting for the stars

POST FALLS — David Weeks didn’t know what National Composites Week was last year at this time.

This year, the chief operating officer of Lakeside Companies in Spokane was well aware it was Aug. 21 to Aug. 25.

“This is exciting for everybody,” he said Wednesday during a visit to Advanced Thermoplastic Composites in Post Falls.

Weeks is one of the players behind a recently announced effort to establish the American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center near the Spokane International Airport.

A regional partnership, with organizations from Washington and Idaho, is hoping to land a Tech Hub designation through the U.S. Economic Development Administration and then be eligible to apply for a grant of up to $75 million for the center.

“This is bigger than just ATC,” Weeks said. “This is truly something that we’ve tried to build, together, for the region that relies on a lot of our elected officials on both sides of the aisle.”

Several local leaders, including Linda Coppess, president and CEO of the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber; Vicki Isakson, dean of instruction, workforce education with North Idaho College; Andrew Fields, CEO, University of Idaho Coeur d’Alene; and Gynii Abracosa Gilliam, president of the Coeur d’Alene Economic Development Corp., heard from ATC leaders and then toured the facility.

Coppess said the visit strengthened her resolve to help drive the effort for the manufacturing center tech hub.

"It would foster higher education rates, create skilled jobs that in turn provides higher paying, livable wages," she said. "We need this for our community."

ATC, founded in 2004, manufactures thermoplastic composite products. It operates in Post Falls out of a 67,000-square-foot facility on 10 acres, with room for expansion.

In their presentation Wednesday, company officials said the future of aerospace is thermoplastics, described as the "next-gen advance material," as it is high strength, lightweight, cost-effective and durable.

New aircraft are increasingly being built using thermoplastics and ATC's leaders are confident their company will be part of that growth.

“We make sure we meet our customers' needs,” said Jacob Bonwell, chief executive officer.

A consortium of about 50 local and regional workforce training, venture capital, economic development, labor, education, tribal and government groups believe a similar center in the region would enjoy success.

“With the region’s world-class aerospace workforce, this innovative center is designed to meet immediate and next-generation development and production of advanced aerospace materials and reduce American reliance on foreign-produced composites,” a press release said.

The center would combine applied education research, workforce training and advanced production, principally located in a 386,000-square-foot repurposed manufacturing facility near Spokane International Airport, with room to grow over 50 acres.

“The future of aviation and aerospace is the development of advanced composite materials to create aircraft that are lighter and more fuel-efficient at reduced cost,” said a press release.

North Idaho member agencies of the consortium include the cities of Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, North Idaho College, the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber, the Coeur d’Alene Economic Development Corp. and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

The consortium has filed an application with the Economic Development Administration for Tech Hub federal designation in the first phase.

Only those awarded the Tech Hub designation will compete for Phase 2 grants, each about $65 million.

Such a center could provide high-paying jobs that would allow residents to stay in North Idaho, where the cost of housing has climbed in recent years.

Isakson liked what she heard and said it could have a significant impact on the economy.

“The opportunity to train a quality workforce for this type of manufacturing is what we have to look forward to,” she said.

Gilliam said she didn’t realize all the different applications, uses and potential with thermoplastics.

To have a manufacturing center producing such material would offer many benefits for the area, not only with good jobs, but giving the area a role on the global stage.

“It would be great for the region," she said.

Coppess said that, from a national perspective, the next-gen aerospace materials have incredible capacity to solve big challenges, including reducing the country's dependence on foreign suppliers and protecting its economic and national security.

While hopeful about the tech-hub possibility, Coppess asked if they could still move forward with private money backing the center, should the consortium not receive the designation needed to secure a large grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

Weeks said that was a possibility.

“A tremendous amount of capital is necessary,” he said.