An exclusive contract with a Canadian mass transit corporation will allow a local engineering, design and production firm to realize its dreams of expanding and permanently locating in Utah County.
Aerotrans, a 5-year-old company that builds components for both the aerospace and mass transit industries, announced recently that officials have signed an exclusive contract with the mass transit division of Quebec's Bombardier Inc. to produce interior modules for Amtrak Superliner passenger cars.While financial terms of the nearly four-year contract were not disclosed, Aerotrans Marketing Director Bret Ashton said the modules are part of a modernization and upgrading of rail transportation in the western United States.
The initial contract calls for the design, tooling and manufacturing of about 1,800 modern sleeper and lavatory modules - for both economy and deluxe compartments on Amtrak trains - over the next four years. Ashton said the contract has allowed the company to proceed with the construction of a modern manufacturing facility in the Springville industrial park, a goal that Aerotrans officials have been striving for over the past five years.
The proposed facility is just north of Stouffer Foods Corp. on Raymond Klauck Way. It will include 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space, 30,000 square feet of mezzanine space and 10,000 square feet of office and engineering space. Already in place is a 2,000-square-foot test track facility used for Aerotrans' current monorail programs. Once those monorail programs have finished up, the company will continue to use the track for other operations.
The company has signed a lease-to-buy agreement on the building with developer Steve Diaz.Construction costs were not disclosed.
Work on the facilities by Springville's C&A Construction should begin immediately. Officials say they hope to be in the facilities before 1992. Aerotrans is currently leasing a 40,000-square-foot facility at 302 W. 900 North, which includes some mobile offices. Those facilities will close at the end of December or the company will have to lease additional space for the expanded production lines.
Also, because of the Bombardier contract, Aerotrans will add approximately 100 new employees over the next 12 months. The company currently employs 70 people.
During groundbreaking ceremonies for the new facilities Monday afternoon, Aerotrans President and CEO Raleigh Huntsman said the company could not have made it this far without its employees.