Aerospace company moving plant to accommodate boost in orders.

An increase in its commercial aircraft business is leading EFS Aerospace to move to bigger quarters in Valencia later this year.

The hydraulic components company takes possession of the larger building this month but will not begin its move until the summer, company president Brian Barnett said.

The leased building will be the company's West Coast headquarters.

EFS designs, manufactures, assembles and tests hydraulic components used in both commercial and military aircraft, including jets made by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin.

"Production rates at Boeing are going up significantly," Barnett said. "For the 737, Boeing is receiving a lot of orders and is ramping up to produce 28 (planes) per month."

EFS hydraulics is also used in Boeing's 777, which the aircraft manufacturer is also expecting many orders on, Barrett said.

EFS is also a first tier supplier for the Boeing 787 and A400M, a military transport aircraft built by Airbus, a French manufacturer.

Southern California has the highest concentration of aerospace companies in the nation with at least 50 percent of manufacturing taking place here, said John Anderson, the director of the aerospace and defense group at California Manufacturing Technology Consulting,

EFS's military contract work is declining, Barrett said. That trend is not uncommon for the state's aerospace industry which is concerned over the future of the C-17 cargo aircraft, which is entirely produced in Southern California, Anderson said.

The run of 180 of the 174-foot long planes is scheduled to end in 2008 and it is now up to Pentagon whether to build additional aircraft, Anderson said.

"A myriad of suppliers will be impacted," Anderson said. "That is a big project."

The good news for the region's aerospace industry is coming from the commercial sector, Anderson said.

"Boeing had a good year last year and in the future will get better," Anderson said.

Chicago-based Boeing ended 2005 with 1,002 commercial aircraft orders, a record for the company, including 68 airliners--737s, 777s and 787s--for Air India, the largest commercial aircraft order in the company's history.

Through March 1, Boeing had 65 orders for commercial aircraft for 2006.

EFS Aerospace is part of the aerospace systems group of Triumph Group, Inc., based in Wayne, Penn.

EFS moved to Valencia from North Hollywood in 1987, occupying three buildings totaling 50,000 square feet. The new building, also in Valencia, is 86,970 square feet, an increase in size of 74 percent.

The company will undertake a phased move beginning in July and it is expected to be completed in October, Barnett said.

To meet the demand for its equipment, EFS is actively recruiting training operators to skilled machinists to grow its labor staff 10 percent to 15 percent, Barnett said.

EFS employs 170 workers, of which two-thirds are in the direct labor force, Barnett said. "Those (machinist) jobs are way above minimum wage and they are very good paying jobs," Anderson said. "It's our middle class we can't afford to lose in this economy."

MARK R. MADLER

Staff Reporter