April 25, 2012
By Marian Accardi, The Huntsville Times
Eric Schultz, The Huntsville Times One of the large work areas shown as Dynetics held an Open House for its new 226,000-square-foot facility Wednesday, April 25, 2012 in Huntsville, Alabama.
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Dynetics has opened a 226,500-square-foot high-tech prototyping facility and plans to add as many as 300 jobs over the next few years.
Dynetics Solutions Complex, the latest addition to its Cummings Research Park campus, increases the company's capabilities in research and development and production for aerospace, cyber and defense products, said Ron Poteat, the chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County. It expands Dynetics' high-tech prototyping capabilities in Huntsville to more than 300,000 square feet, Poteat said today before a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house at the facility at 1004 Explorer Blvd.
With the opening of the complex, plans are to add 250 to 300 more jobs over the next three years, he said.
The high-tech prototyping facility is the next step in Dynetics' move to provide full-service engineering capabilities, said Dynetics CEO Dr. Marc Bendickson.
The addition features 110,000 square feet of labs and manufacturing space. It has high- and low-bay space, an environmental testing lab, a clean room, cyber/information assurance lab and instrumentation lab. It can accommodate commercial and government programs.
The complex creates "a collaborative environment for technicians, engineers and our customers," Bendickson said.
Dynetics employees working on the design and fabrication of the mating and integration system for the Stratolaunch air launch system will be in the complex. Stratolaunch Systems, founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, is a private company based in Huntsville that will build a composite aircraft for launching medium-class payloads to space.
The mating and integration system is like a "mobile launch pad," said David King, Dynetics' executive vice president, and it will connect the airplane to the rocket.
King and Dynetics President Tom Baumbach gave updates on Dynetics work in intelligence, missiles, aviation, cyber and space.
Dynetics, founded in 1974, was the first tenant in the western section of the research park. The company now has more than 1,300 employees, said Bendickson, with 1,150 of those employees in the Tennessee Valley.
Greg Canfield, the secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce, said the work to be done at the complex is "a perfect fit" in the "strategic vision for the state as we move forward."
Accelerate Alabama, a strategic plan to provide direction for the state's economic development efforts, identifies 11 business sectors for recruitment and retention efforts over the next three years. They are aerospace/defense, automotive, agricultural products/food production, steel/metal, forestry products, chemicals, biosciences, information technology, enabling technologies, distribution/ logistics and corporate operations.
The opening of the complex fell on the 23rd anniversary of Dynetics becoming an employee-owned company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. The company at that time had 160 employees.