Charlotte- based Goodrich Corp., a diversified supplier of systems to the aerospace industry, is one of the more active firms in the sector when it comes to expansion, with ongoing projects around the globe. These include an expansion in

Goodrich Corp.'s new Everett, Wash., facility (center, foreground) will be used for final assembly for parts for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The new Boeing facility is pictured in the rear of the photo.

Baldwin County, Ala., and a new facility in Everett, Wash.
   The company's Goodrich Aerospace division plans to add 160 jobs and 60,000 sq. ft. (5,575 sq. m.) in a $10.9- million expansion to its plant in Foley, Ala., which already employs 575. Goodrich operates an OEM and an MRO division at the facility.
   The Everett facility is a 140,000- sq.- ft. (1,300- sq.- m.) building that will be used for engine integration and final assembly of the nacelle inlet cowl for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Employment will reach 35 by mid- 2007 and will increase in 2008 to about 80 in parallel with 787 production.
   Globally, Goodrich is expanding maintenance facilities. These include:
   • A 300,000- sq.- ft. (29,700- sq.- m.) expansion of its Singapore- based nacelle/thrust reverser MRO facility. The company will also relocate its Singapore- based customer services and aircraft interior products service centers into the new facility, creating a Goodrich campus for the region.
   • A new component and systems maintenance and repair campus in Dubai to serve Middle Eastern, African and south Asian customers.
   • A 130,000- sq.- ft. (1,200- sq.- m.) expansion of its Aerostructures Prestwick Service Center in Scotland.

   Parts facilities are also part of the mix, as Bombardier can attest. In late September, the company announced it would build a new spare parts distribution facility in Narita, Japan. The depot joins a fast- growing international network of Bombardier parts facilities that saw the opening of a "super warehouse" in Chicago in September 2005 and a depot in Dubai in early 2006, and will see another depot open in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2007.
   Alabama's aerospace effort got another boost in late September when Northrup Grumman and EADS North America signed more than $120 million in incentive agreements as they advance their bid to build a $600- million aircraft assembly facility in Mobile. The companies are vying with Boeing to win a U.S. Air Force contract to build tanker refueling aircraft.