Contract Manufacturing Profile
director of sales at Beaver. “Due to environmental concerns, companies are looking for chrome-plating alternatives in the aerospace industry.”
Based on shifting demands, Beaver also continues to develop its expertise in new and emerging materials such as titanium. Beaver, which was founded in 1952, has a healthy 100,000
ft2 (9290 m2
) of space. But that space refl ects how the company has grown over the years, so it is spread out over three facilities located close to one another in an industrial row in suburban Livonia. Beaver also has access to production space through its parent company, Phillips Service Industries (PSI; Livonia, MI), which has a total of 500,000 ft2
(46,450 m2 ) available in other
nearby facilities. Eventually, Kearns said, Beaver is exploring getting all of its operations under one roof in its new fi ve-year plan. Beaver is currently operating at about 90% capacity with one shift running six days a week, and is in the process of adding a second shift.
Pride in Innovation
Beaver prides itself on being creative, and one of its most creative solutions for the government ended up doubling the size of the company and helping to support the fi rm through the Great Recession.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the government did a detailed assessment of its vulnerabilities and concluded that there was a high risk with certain missile silo doors, which often took 30 minutes to secure after maintenance activities. The gov- ernment asked its trusted suppliers to come up with a solution that would leave the 17,000 lb (7711 kg) door open for only 15 seconds, without increasing the available power. The govern- ment also asked for a method of closing the door with no power in emergency situations. In order to complete lift operations with no power, Beaver designed a system using a carbon fl ywheel that captured the kinetic energy and stored it until needed. Ultimately, PSI purchased the assets of the company that produced the fl ywheel and moved them to Michigan. The
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ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | February 2014
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