WEEKSVILLE
Before Wednesday, TCOM LP had never produced more than 100 of any thing other than promotional calendars and key chains, said David Barlow, president.
Standing in the shadow of its 100th 17-meter aerostat, Barlow applauded the employees inside the Weeksville hangar who made it possible.
"The future of TCOM is brighter than it's ever been," he said.
TCOM designs, manufactures, tests, operates and supports tethered aerostat systems. The balloons are used for a variety of purposes around the world.
Based in Columbia, Md., the company has operated in the Elizabeth City area since 1973.
TCOM operates out of a 960-foot-long metal hangar, built in 1942 by the Navy, that can accommodate vehicles as tall as 172 feet.
Its future in northeastern North Carolina was in doubt in 1995 after the hangar caught fire, destroying a major portion of the business.
"We made the decision to stay here because of the people we have here," Barlow said in February during a groundbreaking ceremony for a 40,000-square-foot hangar next to the existing hangar.
The new $3 million hangar will be nearly the size of the Museum of the Albemarle, a 50,000-square-foot structure that dominates the downtown Elizabeth City waterfront. It will be used to fulfill an Army contract to build the mooring systems for unmanned, tethered aerostats used in surveillance.
The military utilizes the company's small tactical aerostats. The trailer-mounted balloons can be pulled on finished roads or hard, sand-packed surfaces and set up for stationary surveillance, which includes the capability to determine exact GPS coordinates of objects or people on the ground. They are used throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition to the 17-meter aerostats, TCOM builds larger versions that can go higher and carry more equipment.
Overall, the company has built more than 300 aerostats - of all sizes - throughout its years in business.
"I hope you recognize that the work you are doing is so important to this country and the world," said Dollie B. Burwell, district director for U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C.
Wednesday's celebration took 15 minutes, and employees were then sent back to work.
"We have just over 100,000 man-hours in this facility alone," said Charlie Knauss, site operations manager at the Weeksville complex. "And we're going to be marching to a faster pace to get to the 200th aerostat at this facility."
Lauren King, (252) 338-2413, lauren.king@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
