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Advanced Manufacturing

Industry Overview

Louisiana has cultivated a stable infrastructure for advanced materials research and manufacturing, with significant programs at its universities providing innovative research, as well as a talented workforce. The state's wealth of assets helps solidify Louisiana's presence in the nation's advanced manufacturing industry.

The National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, or NCAM, combines education, research and manufacturing at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. NASA's strong presence in Louisiana gives the state a prominent role in the aerospace and aviation industries. Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, or LITE, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, offers a comprehensive set of advanced visualization systems, including one of the world's first multi-user, six-sided digital 3-D total immersive space based on CAVE™ technologies. Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Louisiana, or MEPOL, and Center for Lean Excellence in New Orleans provide support to manufacturers around the state. Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence and University of New Orleans' School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering provide workforce training programs for manufacturers.

Advanced Materials

Advanced materials play an important role in Louisiana's economy. The state has developed a strong academic infrastructure for research and development in advanced materials, and a number of significant ventures have helped to further enhance the industry in Louisiana.

Located in New Orleans at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, NCAM is the result of a partnership between NASA, the state of Louisiana and the University of New Orleans. NCAM's purpose is to address NASA's needs in research and technology development and to build the technology base for manufacturing next generation launch vehicle systems. NCAM, under the auspices of the UNO College of Engineering, leads a consortium of seven universities that conduct research focused on using composite and metallic materials in the production of aerospace structures.

In Shreveport, the Louisiana Center for Manufacturing Sciences is a nonprofit consortium focused on improving manufacturing efficiencies across the defense industrial base, including shipbuilding, munitions, parts replacement and other critical defense functions.

LSU's Baton Rouge campus carries out diverse research projects that focus on advanced materials for the microelectronic, MEMS and specialty chemicals industries. Researchers use electrochemical techniques, chemical vapor deposition and wet chemical processing methods to deposit thin films, nanowires, nanoparticles and bulk forms. The resulting materials can be used in a variety of applications, such as heterogeneous catalysis, fuel cell technology, biological and chemical sensing and magnetic storage.

Aerospace

Work being done in Louisiana is critical to the nation's aerospace industry. The Michoud Assembly Facility is located in New Orleans on 832 acres, with 3.8 million square feet of total infrastructure, including strategic highway, railway and port access. It contains one of the largest production buildings in the nation. Michoud is a NASA-owned facility managed by Marshall Space Flight Center, providing vital support to NASA's exploration and discovery missions.

Michoud Assembly Facility is also home to the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a partnership between NASA and the state of Louisiana, which provides advanced manufacturing technology vital to next generation launch vehicles and hardware.

One of just three LIGOs, or Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatories, in the nation is located in Livingston Parish. LIGOs are dedicated to the detection of cosmic gravitational waves and measurement of the waves for scientific research that yields invaluable information on the nature of the universe. The Louisiana observatory works with two others near Richland, Wash., as two widely separated detectors working in unison are necessary to rule out false signals and confirm that a gravitational wave has passed through the earth.

Aviation

Existing infrastructure, proactive state and local governments, a skilled workforce and an agreeable climate have strengthened Louisiana's aviation industry, making it one of the nation's fastest-growing. Many aviation-related companies - such as Lockheed Martin, EADS, Northrop Grumman, Air Logistics, Bristow, ERA Helicopters and Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. - are operating in Louisiana. The state's aviation industry has experienced significant growth in recent years with companies like ASA Airlines and Continental Express Airlines either relocating to Louisiana or undergoing major expansion.

Virtually every region of the state has a strong aviation presence. For example, aviation companies doing business in Lafayette include MASCO; Industrial Helicopters Inc.; Omni Aviation; Paul Fournet Air Service; Petroleum Helicopters Inc.; Acadian Composites; Aviall Inc.; Coastal Turbines Inc.; Rotor Blades Inc.; Arrow Aviation; Rotorcraft Technologies Inc.; and Superior Aircraft Interiors.

Louisiana offers seven commercial service/primary airports: Lafayette Regional Airport, Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Alexandria International Airport, Monroe Regional Airport, Shreveport Regional Airport, Lake Charles Regional Airport and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Lake Charles' Chennault Industrial Airpark has four aviation companies -- Northrop Grumman, Aeroframe Services MRO, Million Air Lake Charles and ERA Helicopters -- two of which are expanding. Northrop Grumman will build a new 20,000-square-foot assembly and repair building, creating 80 new jobs and retaining 217 employees. Aeroframe will install a new tail dock, which will increase Aeroframe's capacity for aircraft repair, adding 50 jobs and retaining 300 employees.

Several organizations exist in Louisiana to encourage the growth of the state's aviation industry. The Aviation Partnership of Louisiana, for example, works to inform aviation businesses of the state's resources, workforce and business-friendly climate. Louisiana Airport Managers & Associates is a nonprofit formed as a statewide advocate to promote the aviation industry, to provide proper legislation guidance for aviation and airports, and to advise its membership.

Louisiana continues to develop a pro-business environment where leaders in the aviation industry want to invest, grow, work and live. With the world-class Michoud Assembly Facility, several airfields around the state, and academic programs focused in new technologies, Louisiana has the resources to provide a perfect location for any aviation business. And with more than a dozen technical schools offering aviation programs in Louisiana, the industry will continue to grow well into the future.

To learn more about Louisiana's aviation industry, click here.

Durable Goods

Louisiana's durable goods industry employed 85,500 workers at the end of 2008. Today, the industry is strong and will remain so for several reasons - an exceptionally productive and well-trained workforce, the availability of resources and a first-class multimodal distribution system reaching across the country and around the world.

In the 2007 Business Facilities Rankings Report, Louisiana ranked first in "Manufacturing Momentum in the U.S." In this category, rankings were based on which states show the greatest promise for manufacturing going forward. Louisiana won out based on a number of factors, but primarily the increase in the value added to its manufacturing shipments. Since 2001, the state's advanced manufacturing industry has seen significant growth, with over 50 advanced manufacturing projects.

Louisiana Economic Development maintains an in-depth understanding of the environment in which durable goods manufacturing companies do business and has worked toward modifying legislation in order to create or retain jobs in the durable goods manufacturing industries.

Shipbuilding

The high skill level of Louisiana's manufacturers and workforce, along with the state's strategic import/export location, make it the logical site for shipbuilding activities and provide great infrastructure for the industry.

Louisiana is manning its shipbuilding industry with homegrown talent. The state is home to the top shipbuilding school in the nation, UNO's School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, or NAME. Students are provided with real world information systems and 3-D modeling facilities at the Avondale-UNO Maritime Technology Center of Excellence, which functions as a research and teaching tool for the NAME program.

UNO's Gulf Coast Region Maritime Technology Center's mission is to help the U.S. shipbuilding industry become more competitive and to reduce the Navy's acquisition costs. The center conducts research in ship design and manufacturing to improve performance, productivity and quality. In addition, MEPOL serves manufacturers by identifying solutions to increase their profitability and productivity. Another resource for manufacturers is the Center for Lean Excellence in New Orleans, which assists manufacturers, as well as other private and public entities throughout Louisiana, in applying Lean principles to their operations.

These programs produce a highly skilled workforce for Louisiana's shipbuilding industry, which includes companies such as Bollinger Shipyards, Northrop Grumman Corp., Laborde Marine, Trico Marine, Seacor Holdings Inc., J. Ray McDermott, Candy Fleet Corp., Central Gulf Lines and Edison Chouest Offshore.

Ensuring the state's shipbuilders and other manufacturers always have access to a skilled workforce is an ongoing effort of the state and the business community. As a result, the state has many industry-certified advanced manufacturing training opportunities, such as the Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence that provides hands-on-training in welding, pipe fitting, press process and CAD/CAM.