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Honeycomb Aircraft Repair Grows with Regional Network and Vendors

With the help of: FloridaMakes

About

Honeycomb Aircraft Repair, LLC, (HARC), located in Cantonment, Florida, is recognized as a leader in the repair and overhaul of bonded metal-to-metal, metal-to-honeycomb, and honeycomb to epoxy-composite assemblies for commercial and military fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The company has 12 full-time employees and plans on adding more experienced craftspeople due to anticipated growth in the next 5 years.  They are a privately-owned company whose sister company, Honeycomb Company of America, is located in Sarasota, FL. 

The Challenge

HARC had recently relocated to Northwest Florida to develop a robust repair center. They needed to locate local vendors to supply parts and services to support their growth in the region. The company turned to FloridaMakes, part of the MEP National Network™, for assistance with locating qualified fabrication shops that could build detailed tooling parts for their repair lines and other support.

Honeycomb Aircraft Repair Center is relatively new to the area having started manufacturing operations at our Cantonment facility in 2017.  We had been searching for reliable, high quality vendors for machined and formed components for the products that we build.  John Davis, the FloridaMakes Business Advisor @UWF reached out to us and offered services that included making connections to qualified local vendors to fulfill our needs.  The services provided are a win-win for Northwest Florida businesses in that it helps our company and our vendors build revenue and create jobs.  We encourage other local businesses to join the Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council to provide a network where we all can benefit.

— Mike Petkauskos, Director of Engineering

MEP's Role

The FloridaMakes Business Advisor at the University of West Florida, worked with HARC to identify many local and regional fabrication operations that had the experience, quality control, and availability to quote, build, and deliver the jibs and tooling needed to perform their work.

HARC saved a substantial amount of time and increased their sales by working with the local vendors and fabrication shops identified by the Business Advisor. To date, HARC is completely satisfied with the quality and costs of work performed by the recommended vendors. HARC also joined the Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council and participated in technical engagements all stemming from the initial work and contacts made by the FloridaMakes Business Advisor.

Created June 2, 2020, Updated July 12, 2021