Aerospace Industry Growing in Davie County

According to the N.C. Department of Commerce Labor and Economic Analysis Division, In May, unemployment rates increased in 87 of North Carolina's counties, including Davie County. Statewide, the May rate was 8.9 percent.

But despite the economic woes, an aerospace manufacturing company in Davie County continues to grow.

Since 1993, Carolina Precision Machining has served customers in the aviation and aerospace industries.

The Mocksville company recently received a prestigious certification called an AS9100C and ISO 9001:2008 from the Performance Review Institute for its quality assurance and parts production.

Steve Vick, president of the company, explains what that means.

“It allows us to bid and do work for any Aerospace company in the world. It really opens up our market in a huge way,” says Vick.

Two years ago, Carolina Precision Machining received a $25,000 grant from the Northwest Piedmont Workforce Development Board to help train workers during the certification process.

Vick says, “All of the airplanes right now, they are either having to be refurbished or replaced, because most of them were built in the 1960's.”

The company currently employs 23 people, with an average wage of around $24.00 an hour. Vick says the aerospace certification will help his company grow even more.

“We actually have doubled our employees every year over the past three of four years. Probably within the next year we will be at 30 to 35 people and then the next year we will probably be around 50 and I don't know if I will get any bigger than that," says Vick.

Vick grew up in Davie County and has seen his hometown suffer from the loss of manufacturing jobs over the years.

But things are starting to improve. Several economic development projects are in the works, including Ashley Furniture's new manufacturing and distribution center, the expansion of Carolina Precision Plastics and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's new campus.

Vick says North Carolina is an important state for the Aerospace industry.

He says he doesn't want to grow too fast too soon, because he wants his company to focus on providing quality products to customers on time.