Using its $48 million federal grant, the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene tech hub will acquire equipment that can produce thermoplastic composite aerospace parts at a scale that doesn't exist in the U.S., some involved with the tech hub say.

“The question is not if they’re going to be produced; it’s just ‘Who’s going to be doing them?’” says Thayne McCulloh, president of Gonzaga University, one of the leading organizations behind the tech hub. “There’s a lot of competition today from China and Europe to Boeing and other domestic producers.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration announced last month that the envisioned Inland Northwest aerospace tech hub will be receiving $48 million in federal funding. As the Journal reported, that grant will go toward the envisioned American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center, a test bed for advanced aerospace materials.

The grant will be used exclusively to acquire equipment for the manufacturing center, which is located at the 386,000-square-foot former Triumph Composite Systems Inc. building at 1514 S. Flint, on the West Plains.

That equipment will include large press machines, for example, which will give aerospace companies and agencies the capabilities to produce thermoplastic composite parts.

The manufacturing center isn’t a site for commercial serial production, but rather for full-scale fabrication for product certification, according to information provided by Lakeside Cos., which owns the former Triumph building and is spearheading the Inland Northwest tech hub consortium. Essentially, the facility will be used as a test bed for companies and agencies to develop their proofs of concept, explains Gary Ballew, vice president of economic development at Greater Spokane Incorporated, which is also a member of the consortium.

“They have to prove that they can manufacture these parts, these sizes,” Ballew says. “They also have to show that they can test that the parts meet all the very specific criteria.” 

As one might expect, the standards are high when it comes to aerospace parts production.

Without a test bed facility like the manufacturing center on the West Plains, Ballew says, a company would have to make a large investment, including purchasing the necessary equipment, in order to test their new parts.

And because there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to prove their concept, there’s no guarantee of a return on the significant investment, Ballew adds.

Ballew contends that the manufacturing center will create capabilities under one roof that are unique not only in the U.S. but across the globe.

“Right now, no one has the capability to manufacture these parts, these materials, at the size that the tech hub will be able to do,” he says.

Demand for thermoplastic composite parts for the aerospace industry is enormous, McCulloh says.

Commercial airlines face many challenges because of the age of their fleets and problems with the metal-based materials in most aircraft. Thermoplastic composite components are lighter, more durable, more fire-resistant, recyclable, and have a longer life expectancy, he says. The use of lighter-weight materials also makes aircraft more fuel-efficient, which helps reduce emissions.

How will this impact the Inland Northwest?

Ideally, the development of the aerospace manufacturing center will create such a high level of interest in the aerospace industry that large companies or agencies could be attracted to the region, McCulloh says.

There will be opportunities for engineers and scientists from various entities, including "agencies like NASA," to participate in the development of the test bed so it can meet their needs, McCulloh says.

Such interest has already been expressed since the $48 million in federal funding was announced, McCulloh says.

“There were queries almost immediately from entities like Blue Origin and other companies,” says McCulloh, who adds that he wouldn't be surprised if new companies enter the market.

While the manufacturing center itself is considered the core of the tech hub, the idea is to make the entire Eastern Washington-North Idaho region a hub for aerospace materials manufacturing, he says.

With the level of economic impact expected to result from the tech hub, there will be increased demand for not just workers, but skilled workers, McCulloh says.

“It will require people who are really, really good at understanding properties of the materials and how to effectively create them and make sure they’re safe,” he says.

At the higher-education level, Gonzaga is developing a center for materials research, McCulloh says.

“That is not something we would do if we had not made the commitment to become a vibrant part of the educational ecosystem that’s supporting the hub,” he says.

Gonzaga isn’t alone in the educational efforts, he adds.

“Similarly, I think there are other institutions, like North Idaho College, who have talked about creating additional or new capacity at their campuses that would support the kind of workforce development, training, and educational programs to support providing opportunities for people to be involved.”

The potential impacts also extend across the Washington-Idaho border, McCulloh says.

“We’re talking about looking at both the facility that is at Flint Road but also creating production opportunities in North Idaho as well,” he says. “The tech hub is really a two-state concept, where we have the potential for doing work both in Spokane and North Idaho.”

What’s next?

While the $48 million in funding is essentially a done deal, Ballew says, a contract is still being worked out between the Economic Development Association and Lakeside Cos.

“It’s a sure thing, but just has some technicalities to work through,” Ballew says.

With the grant, the money has to be provided up front, and then will be reimbursed, he adds.

While the contract is being sorted out, the consortium will continue to seek additional funding for things that may not be addressed with the initial grant, like job development and workforce training.

“Those are smaller dollar items, but still very important to the success of the project,” Ballew says.

While an exact timeline for the tech hub hasn’t been established yet, McCulloh says, “The intention is to proceed forward as quickly as possible with placing orders. I imagine that there are variable timeframes depending upon who’s actually producing the equipment and where it’s coming from.”

Future funding could come from a variety of different sources, McCulloh explains.

“My sense is that there may well be additional funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce, but there’s also potential that other federal agencies are also focused on American production and the development of opportunity for domestic production,” he says.

He says that the U.S. Department of Defense may be a possible source of future funding, noting that it has an interest in seeing this type of endeavor advance.

“Without question, Defense has a significant amount of resources,” he says.

McCulloh notes that while there has been a recent change in administration at the federal level, “the idea that we are trying to advance the capabilities of American production and the interests of domestic capabilities is something that actually heretofore has received bipartisan support.”

In addition to securing future funding, the consortium will continue to promote the tech hub and the manufacturing center to entities in the aerospace materials manufacturing industry.

Ballew says he and others involved with the tech hub will be attending JEC World 2025, an international composites tradeshow in Paris, next month.