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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune BUSINESS ‘High-Tech : Manufacturing - Overlooked @ Continued from E-1 aerespace industry blossom and is a reason the Ogden area became one ofthe leading centers for hightech manufacturing in the state, Kusina said. “Now we are starting to see indications the Air Force is really Starting to look concretely at the Tole thebase will play in the future. And that future is looking brighter,” he said. The base was chosen as a repair facility for B-2 stealth bombers, further expanding its growing role as a prime maintenance and refurbishing site for military aircraft. The state’s rocket-motor makee ee according to ATK ank Thiokol. It remains a sexy business and with each launch of the space shuttle or blastoffof an unmanned Delta IV rocket carrying satellite a “Made in Utah”labelis carried into orbit. ATK and Thiokol agree‘rocket: motor demand remains battered and bruised by the endof the Cold War and cutbacks in military spending. “We certainly do not wantto give people the impression we are popping champaign corks out: here,” ATK spokesman Dave Nicponskisaid. Yet each company hasacache of contracts to build rocket motors for commercial and military use well into the decade — enough work thatthey expect to atleast be able to stay close to current em- ploymentlevels. —— And both companies are counting on- carbon-fiber composite technology, an outgrowth of the aerospace industry, to provide a solid launch pad for future growth. The high-tech composite mate- rials technology used to make rocket-motor casings is increasingly being used in other areas, said Oren Phillips, vice president of business development at Thiokol Propulsion. Composites are used to make aircraft parts. They are wound around concrete abutments to help bridges withstand earthquakes. They are used to make fuel tanks and golf clubs, baseball bats and the lightweight air tanks carried byfirefighters. “The potential uses for compos- ite structures are enormous. We may see some graduai shrinkage in the rocket-motor business but we will handle that by moving more into the composite business,” said Paul Ross, senior groupvice president for ATK’s aerospace operations in Utah. Like composite materials, automobile air bags are an outgrowth of the aerospace and specialty chemicals industry. At Autoliv, the same pyrotechnic knowledge andballistic expertise that Thiokol and ATK use in their rocket motors goes to produce air bags that inflate in milliseconds. Autoliv’s operations in the Ogden area trace their roots back to Morton Thiokol, which spun off its specialty chemicals and automobile air-bag units into Morton International in 1989, Autoliv, Paul Fraught Technicians monitorall aspects of the rocket propellant manufacturing process in the control centerat the ATK plant in Magna. based in Sweden, acquired Morton’s air-bag business three years ago. Autoliv is now Utah’s largest manufacturer with more than 6,000 employees. And it is very mucha high-tech operation, said Lisa Frary, managerof an Autoliv plant in Ogden that employs more than 1,300. Computer-chip makers as a rule must re-equip and revamp their production lines every 18 months to three years. The same can be said for Autoliv where the life-cycle of one of its automotive products is two to four years. “Tt is not as if we can bring a production, line up and keep it running for"10.years,” Frary said. “Our production ‘employees are constantly being trained on the latest technology and production methods.” Autoliv’s growth in Utah will now come from new products, such as the side impact air bags and inflatable curtains that deploy from the roofs of cars to protect passengers duringside-impact collisions, has been consolidation among the Frary said. In a broader sense, Utah’s hightech manufacturing industry led by companies such as ATK, Thiokol and Autoliv includes hundreds of smaller suppliers that provide the materials the bigger firms use to run their operations. “ATK, for example, spends more than $90 million a year buying goods and services from its Utah vendors. Rick Mayfield, director of the Utah Departmentof Business and Economic Development, said there nation’s major aerospace compa- nies, so the prospects are poorthat thestate will be able to recruit a big see supplier to relocate to Mayfield suggested, however, there is still a lot of growth potential for the aerospace industry in Utah. “And we can help that growth by trying to encourage our local companies, by lookingat high-tech suppliers to see if we. can’t help some of those companies expand and find new customers,”he said. a) > SOME RELATIONSHIPS WILL FETCH YOUR STICK. 5% higher rates on Money Market Accounts" 5% higher rates on CDs .5% less interest on Loans™”* Greatrates build greatrelationships. That’s why we’ve combined the best rates and services into one account— Zions Gold Account. Beyond the Gold Packagerates on banking products, the package also includes free checks (up to $15), - interest-added checking, a free safe deposit box, free electronic bill pay and much more. 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